Blackberry Sorbet - Kenya

This lot comes from Kii, in Kirinyaga County on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya, where smallholder members of the cooperative deliver cherry from farms at around 2,000 masl. The varieties are SL28 and SL34, both selected at Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s and still the reference point for Kenyan cup quality, dense, structured and unmistakably blackcurrant.

Cherries are hand sorted on delivery, pulped and fermented, then washed and graded by density in channels before drying slowly on raised beds. The long, careful wash is what gives Kenyan coffees of this calibre their clarity and their sharply defined acidity.

Deep and juicy in the cup, with blackcurrant, blackberry and lemonade. Excellent as filter for a sweet, fruit-driven cup, and vibrant as a modern espresso.