Kahura Peabery

Kenya

I just roasted another Peabery - this makes the forth kind so far. As I type I am waiting for it to fully steep so that I can taste it. I am so excited I might just wet myself (ok, not really but I am excited).

This bean seemed to be more dense than any other bean. I usually roast 2/3 C of green beans without incident but this time the air was not moving the beans to roast them evenly. So, I did what anyone would do - I stood there shaking the roaster.

(Be right back, I have to get the coffee and I think I hear the baby crying)
(Alright, I got the coffee and the baby is babbling and contained safely in her crib)

This cup smells wonderful, like an autumn evening after the leaves have fallen. I mean, this cup smells "take her home to mother" good. It is a pleasure to just sit and smell her beauty and imagine that first kiss. When I dared to lean over for a peck on the cheek I was rewarded with a passion that only a woman can deliver. The flavor is woody and nutty with a depth that only Alice's rabbit hole can know. This flavor begs for a pallet to cause to rejoice and it makes the angels sing. If only I were in the business of roasting coffee - the world would know peace.

I highly recommend this Kahura Peabery...

Kimel Peaberry

Papua New Guinea

This is a complete and unexpected surprise. I do not know if this is what I was to expect from a Peaberry (sort of like the hoppy flavor is expected of an IPA in the world of beers) but this almost tastes like something other than coffee. It is nothing if it is not a new experience.

The Kimel Peabery possesses a sort of spiciness which is a strong attribute in this coffee. One person describes this as the slight flavor of thyme which resonates as true with me. I also sense a fine buttery flavor and feel as well.

I roasted 2 oz. of this bean to a lighter City roast and ground it mediumly for a 12 cup pot. The brew was a perfect cinnamon brown with no hint of emerald around its edge. It had a unique aroma, from bean to brew, which should have tipped me off to what was in store but not many beans actually taste like they smell.

This Papau New Guinea (PNG) Kimel Peaberry is quite extraordinary and quite a pleasurable experience. I do believe that this is one of those coffees that can be used as a tool to aid in personal times of devotion and worship.

From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 9.

Peaberry Showdown

Papua New Guinea - Kimel Peaberry
Kenya - Kahura Peabery
Tanzania - Kigoma Peaberry

When only one can be the best, I am on the job, and I put the coffee to the test. The other day my wife suggested that we do a taste test and explore the three types of Peaberry coffees that I currently have. So we did. She and I both sampled all three types, and we rated them according to Aroma, Flavor, Body, Complexity, and Uniqueness. Here were the results.

*****Kimel Peaberry*****

Aroma: John- 7 Megan- 8
Flavor: John- 8 Megan- 8
Body: John- 6 Megan- 4
Complexity: John- 4 Megan- 4
Uniqueness: John- 10 Megan- 10
TOTALS: John- 35 Megan- 26 (61)

*****Kahura Peaberry*****
Aroma: John- 7 Megan- 6
Flavor: John- 8 Megan- 6
Body: John- 5 Megan- 7
Complexity: John- 4 Megan- 8
Uniqueness: John- 10 Megan- 6
TOTALS: John- 34 Megan- 35 (69)

*****Kigoma Peaberry*****
Aroma: John- 9 Megan- 5
Flavor: John- 7 Megan- 7
Body: John- 4 Megan- 8
Complexity: John- 7 Megan- 7
Uniqueness: John- 10 Megan- 7
TOTALS: John- 37 Megan- 34 (71)

Since I am writing this I will describe my experience as my wife will have to speak for herself.

As I roasted these beans I had a tough time hearing them crack and so I ended up with 3 different levels of roast with each batch. The Kimel was Dark Roasted, the Kahura was darker roasted, and the Kigoma was sweating oil when I was finished with it. (Mmmmmm - French Roasted coffee)

I liked the Kigoma best for its Aroma. This one jumped out at me but It is completely possible that it had the best aroma because it was the darkest roasted. But, for whatever reason, it was a great Aroma.

The Kimel and the Kahura were the best tasting as they both demonstrated a complex Flavor that made you happy to be alive. This is not to say that the Kigoma made you wish for death but either my palatte was tired by time I got to it or it was not as good as the rest as far as Flavor went.

The Kimel seemed to have the best Body but then after loking at how the Body numbers dropped with the progress of the sampling I suspect that my subjectivity may have been in question.

With Complexity I was looking for definite taste attributes like floral, woody, and nutty. In this arena the Kigoma stood out as it had a definite nutty/woody attribute in its flavor.

I scored each of the 3 coffees with a 10 for Uniqueness because each of them are wholly unique from regular Arabica or Robusta coffees. I did not compare them against one another but with coffee in general.

By the end of our testing my favorite wound up being Kigoma with a combined score of 37 points. I attribute this to it having the best Aroma and only being one point below the rest in Flavor. So there you have it, if you are ever at the coffee shop and the person behind the counter ever asks you what type of Peaberry you would like, look then straigt in the eye and proudly proclaim that you would like a cup od Kigoma Peaberry... (snort) I'm only kidding, none of the coffee shops around you are sophisticated enough to actually serve anything but the swill that you are used to. (snort, snort)

Moving on... Upon completion of the testing I simply blended all three types of the Peaberry together and made a super tasting brew with an awesome body. When blending coffees it will ussually combine the good and the bad and the resultant coffee is either one or the other but since none of these three was ever bad the result of the blend is that the strengths of each Peaberry strengthened the experience of the whole cup.

Until next time - Happy Roasting!!!

You know? If I were to start a coffee shop I would sell coffees by individual type, roast the green beans while you wait, grind it in a fancy-shmantcy Burr grinder, and serve it to you in a one cup French Press as you sit in an over-stuffed chair with your favorite book. Aww, who'm I kidding? That sort of coffee shop would be too expensive to own and operate. Oh well, one can dream can't he?