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Beans: Gichathaini, Batian, Ruiru 11, SL28/34, Washed, Nyeri, Kenya.
Shop: Audun Coffee, Bydgoszcz.
Audun Coffee: Background Information.
Audun Coffee was founded by Norwegian roaster Audun Sorbotten. Audun started his career at the oldest Norwegian roastery Solberg & Hansen and it was there that he really started loving coffee for what it is; complex, flavorful and diverse.
In 2011 and 2012, Audun was part of the team that became the Nordic roasting champion and in 2015, after moving to Poland, he became the roasting champion of the world.
When I contacted Audun about reviewing his coffee, the thing that stood out was the fact that he never changes his roasting techniques. The Norwegian roasting style is what he perfected and what his clients expect of him. In turn, Audun wants to roast coffees form all over the world and roast them as best as he can. These two things combined make him one of the most sought after roasters in the world. The moment I wrote about reviewing his coffee’s, a Hong Kong based follower on Instagram told me he missed drinking his coffee. That says a lot I guess?
This Kenya, the Gichathaini comes all the way from the Nyeri region. A place where a lot of great coffee’s come from.
Gichathaini is one of three factories (or washing stations) that
form the Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society. The factory itself is owned by the coffee farmers who deliver cherries to the station. There are currently 897 members, of which roughly 770 are active and sell their coffees through the factory.
The factory receives assistance from Coffee Management Services (CMS). The long term goal is to increase coffee production as well as quality through farmer training and timely access to inputs. Through the pre-financing, farmers receive advances for school fees and farm inputs. The factory manager is retrained every year by CMS. The water used at the station for fermenting and washing the coffee is drawn from the nearby Ragati river using gravity-fed channels, and is re-circulated during processing for conservation purposes. After use, it is moved into soak pits away from water sources so that it does not pollute the area.
The coffee was grown at an altitude between 1700 and 1900 meters above sea level. The soil on which the coffee grows consists out of red volcanic soil and this in turn means that it his high in nutrition. After the sorting, fermenting and washing, the coffee is dried between 12 to 20 days.
Gichathaini: Opening the package.
Audun Coffee comes in a black bag with black and white logo on the front. The fun thing is that the design of the logo will change with each coffee you buy. In total, I received four coffees with four different logo’s.
On the coffee there is information about the process, the varieties, the name of the coffee and the origin. Obviously, the package has a ziplock and degassing valve to keep the coffee as fresh as possible.
When opening the package, you will immediately notice the fruity and candy like aroma of the coffee. The coffee looks evenly roasted and that is nice when you take into account that there are three different varieties inside the bag. The beans are medium crispy and let out a flavour of black tea. After a while there is a salty/sour aspect that brings forth a gravy flavour to the bean. When grinding the coffee you will get a savoury and tobacco aroma together with blackberry and soft raspberry. This looks promising!
Audun Coffee – Gichathaini: The tasting.
I have reviewed this coffee on the Hario V60, Aeropress, Siphon while using the Eureka Brew-Pro grinder. I’m giving you the results of all these brewers in one but I do want to tell you upfront that the cold blooming on the Aeropress will give out more savoury notes on this coffee. It’s definitely worth doing it!
When brewing the Gichathaini you should smell the coffee right away. Notice how the coffee gives off a black tea aroma? This is a foundation of the aroma’s that are yet to come. When you finish the brewing and continue smelling, you will find blackberry and raspberry aroma’s that are accompanied with THC (the distinct marijuana scent) and sushi leaf aromas. As the coffee cools down the black tea and fruity notes will get stronger, The strength of the coffee, however, lies in the flavours that you will perceive while drinking.
This coffee will bring you along a journey of flavours that start when the coffee is hot, all the way down to when the coffee is cooled down. When the coffee is hot, there is a sugared cherry tea flavour that is most prominent. This fruitiness slowly changes into a mix of raspberry and strawberry when the coffee cools down a little. Notice how the black tea always remains in the background?
When the coffee cools down even more, the fruity notes become darker and change into blackberry and plum while soft raspberry tannins come up in the side of your mouth. These tannins are typical for raspberry and wont affect your whole mouth, just the gums. All the while, the coffee tastes sweet and juicy. The coffee has a oily, lactic subtle mouthfeel and it go’s great with the different acidity levels in the coffee. When it’s hot, you will notice a green apple malic acidity, it slowly changes into a lemony and then a alkaline acidity as the coffee cools down completely.
When using cold water to bloom the coffee on the Aeropress I noticed that the undertone of black tea was replaced by a savoury and tomato undertone and that the chocolate note in the aftertaste was more prominent.
When you swallow the coffee the aftertaste will bring you more plum, together with cocoa, chocolate and all the in the back, a soft tomato flavour.
Gichathaini – The verdict.
Audun Sorbotten is the 2015 World Roasting Champion and that will bring some expectations from the person drinking the coffee. Rest assured, this coffee is awesome! Where most coffee’s lean towards a certain direction of fruity flavours, Audun has managed to bring out a lot of notes in this coffee. Cherry, Raspberry, Strawberry, plum, cocoa, chocolate and all this combined with great acidity and mouthfeel. Oh, dont forget about the changing undertone of black tea and savoury/tomato either!
This is a coffee that is awesome to wake up with, or go to bed with…I guess it’s awesome during the whole day!