Kieni – Coffee Collective

Kieni is a washed Kenyan from the Denmark roaster, Coffee Collective, and was featured as the December 2020 coffee for my Yonder subscription. This was my first experience with Coffee Collective and it was an impressive one.

The coffee began with a rich, full and creamy fragrance. It had a wonderful depth to it and a quality that reminded me both of tomato soup and graham crackers—a strange mix, I know, but was actually quite nice and both came to mind as I smelled the ground coffee. The body was smooth with a rich sweetness that was wonderfully complex. It began with a mixture of creamy marshmallow paired with sharp lemon citrus and evolved into a berry sweetness as the coffee cooled to room temperature. In the flavor I tasted citrus, grapefruit and berries. The berry notes became dominate as the coffee cooled and notes of blueberry and blackberry dominated. The aftertaste lingered with creamy grapefruit acidity and sweetness as the defining characteristic.

The Bottom Line

Kenyans can be hit or miss, but this one was a big hit for me. It was wonderfully complex and the mixture of creamy and citrus was a true delight to explore.