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Kichwa Tembo, Kenya AA – Rivet Coffee

Andrew Pautler

Coffee Details

  • Coffee Name
    Kichwa Tembo, Kenya AA Single Origin Coffee
  • Roaster
    Rivet Coffee
  • Roaster Location
    Carmel, Indiana
  • Estimated Price
    $18 / 12 oz
  • Flavor Notes
    Rich, juicy and sweet with big fruit, sugar cane, cherry
  • Process
    Washed
  • Varieties
    Sl-28, SL-34, Ruiru 11, Batian, K7, French Mission
  • Country
    Kenya
  • Elevation
    1800–2300 MASL
  • Producer
    Various smallholder farmers
  • Roast
    Light
  • Review Brew Method
    v60, Chemex, espresso
  • Roast Date
    February 2, 2020
  • Review Date
    February 15, 2020

Coffee Scoring

9.0
Aroma
8.5 / 10
Body
9.5 / 10
Flavor
9.5 / 10
Acidity/Brightness
8.5 / 10
Balance
9 / 10
Sweetness
9 / 10
Cleanliness
9 / 10
Aftertaste
9 / 10
Complexity
9 / 10
Flexibility
9 / 10
Pros
  • Lush body
  • Rich, deep flavor notes

Disclosure: Pull & Pour received coffee samples for this post, however, as always, all opinions are 100% my own.

Rivet is a micro roaster located just north of Indianapolis. Inspired by a 1964 Airstream, which is held together by thousands of rivets, their branding is one of the coolest I’ve seen. Luckily, the quality doesn’t stop with their packaging design though. I had an opportunity to try their current Kenya AA coffee and it was one of the best Kenyan coffee’s I’ve tried recently.

The fragrance was a great foreshadowing of things to come and was rich, sweet and included notes of dark cherry. The flavor included the same richness and notes of cherry, but also blackberry and intense juicy sweetness. The full body was lush and carried through to the aftertaste, which was lush, juicy and lingered for a long time. The acidity throughout was a bit more muted, but the coffee was clean, balanced and had a wonderful complexity. I loved trying the coffee in a variety of brew methods and it worked equally well as pour over and espresso, which was creamy and rich as well.

The Bottom Line

Kichwa Tembo, Kenya AA from Rivet Coffee was a top-notch Kenyan coffee and one I enjoyed with every brew method I threw at it. Combining rich, sweet fruit notes with big body lushness is unusual, but it happened with this coffee and it was an incredibly special treat.

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