Kamavindi SL28/34 - 120g

Peter Mbature is a shining example of everything I love about coffee: community and passion expressed as flavor. 

At Kamavindi Estate, Peter has a coffee tasting and training lab for roasting, brewing, growing and processing coffee. Peter shares this knowledge with the hopes of improving the average quality of his immediate community. This work is crucial not just for quality but also as a way to reclaim and reframe the place coffee growing holds in post-colonial Kenya. 

Pre 1961, Kenyan farmers were restricted by law to grow no more than 100 coffee trees. This law was put in place in order to remove power from farmers while allowing colonial powers to extract cherry from multiple smallholders and disallow farmers the opportunity of growth. Peter's work today stands in antithesis to this; knowledge sharing and community building have created the legendary status we all know Kamavindi for today.

This coffee holds a particularly dear place in my heart; this story and the flavor of Kamavindi first crossed my path in 2018 when I was working as a barista. It inspired me to find ways to build community and share what knowledge I have to help baristas and aspiring coffee professionals around me however I could. To have this coffee on the menu now is a full circle moment, an honor and a great joy. 

We taste: 
When hot, blackberry and boysenberry are prominent supporting by an overwhelming wildflower honeyed aroma. There is also a rich black tea note, powerful in aroma and subtle on the palate. As the cup cools, sweetness takes over with blackberry jam and pomegranate juice moving to the forefront with a sparkling acidity and zippy mouthfeel. At cold, the cup presents very juicy and dynamic with notes of earl grey and fresh raspberries. For me, there is also nostalgia, hope and wonder.