Hits: 15
Beans: Kainamui AA, SL28, SL34, Batian, Ruiru 11, Kirinyaga, Kenia.
Shop: Alt Wien Kaffee, Webshop, Vienna, Austria (not Australia).
Alt Wien Kaffee: Background information.
Alt Wien Kaffee is a typical Viennese coffee shop located just outside the center of Vienna. Aside from the Viennese architecture, this coffee shop is very different from others in this city. Alt Wien Kaffee is the place where tradition meets specialty coffee and the people responsible for this fact are Christian Schroedl and Oliver Goetz. In the present days, Alt Wien Kaffee is the coffee shop in Vienna that offers the traditional liked dry chocolaty espresso’s and, for those that are looking for something special, a range of high quality specialty coffee.
After the last review of the Bermudez Frutos Rojos, it is now time to review the Kainamui AA coffee from Kenya.
The Kainumui AA comes from the famous Nordic Approach and hails from the Kenian region of Kirinyaga. Kainamui is one of the factories that has been there since the early days of specialty coffee. The Kainamui washing station is located at 1750m altitude in an area where they do more tea than coffee. There are about 1800 farmers in total that work with this washing station. Kainamui washing station is known for giving back a big portion of the premiums to the producers as well as they provide financial support for school fees and farming needs. Each lot consists of coffees from hundreds of smallholders in the local surroundings of the washing station (factory). They sort the cherries before it goes in to production. The coffees are traditionally processed with dry fermentation before washed and graded in channels and dried on raised beds. The farmers are mainly growing SL28 and SL34, but as with almost all Kenyan Cooperative coffees it can be a mix of everything. Other normal cultivars are K7, Ruiru 11 and now also Batian.
Alt Wien Kaffee: Opening the package.
Alt Wien Kaffee coffee comes in a plastic bag with a ziplock and degassing valve to keep the coffee as fresh as possible for as long as possible. On the front you will find the logo of the brand and the weight. The fun starts when you rotate this package and get to the back.
There is a label on the back the covers about everything you want in terms of information. There is a little description of the coffee background, tasting notes divided in flavour, aroma and aftertaste. Furthermore you will find the region, producer, process and varietal, as well as the roasting profile and date. On both sides you can read about the roaster, their motto and a bit of advice on a journey through the world of coffee. Talking about a complete set of information that you want as a consumer!
When you open up this package of coffee you really want to get that first waft of aroma’s right up your nose. A soft sweet tomato aroma that is supported with the aroma of the green tomato stem. After that you should find a hint of broth, a woody cedar/sandalwood note and at the end sweet red fruit. The crispy bean gives off a sweet tea flavour that, as you keep chewing, gives off the tomato flavour and eventually a hint of sultana cookie/raisins. Grinding this coffee is also very interesting since the aroma’s coming from the package itself, are also in the ground coffee.
Kainamui AA: The tasting.
I reviewed this coffee on the Hario V60, Siphon, Aeropress and I used a Vietnamese dripper as well. This coffee is very versatile and, as you will read, will give you a lot of options to ‘from’ it according to your taste.
When brewing this coffee you will immediately get hit by the intense tomato aroma. This is a savoury tomato aroma that also has the hairy stem of the tomato plant in it. The aroma gradually changes into the aroma of the Nori leaf, which is the green sushi leaf that it around some of the sushi. Having this finish to the tomato note is just wonderful since it really completes it. As the coffee cools down a little, the tomato makes place for a sweet sugared and even slightly vanilla-like aroma. In the end you will find a red fruit and berry like sweet note that is subtle but definitely there.
The brewing is done and when you take your first sip, there is a perfect lime sweetness to the coffee right from the start. Slurp in some oxygen and swirl the coffee round in your mouth. When the coffee is still hot, the savoury tomato aspect is dominant together with a grapefruit mouthfeel. The Nori Leaf note is also there, but it is softer now. As the coffee cools down, the grapefruit aspect will also tone down. In return there are new flavours popping up: raspberry and raisins. These notes can be amplified by slurping oxygen inside your mouth again. The raspberry has a distinct character of sweet raspberry syrup, although it’s not as dominant as a glass of syrup for example. Letting the coffee cool down even more, the raspberry and raisin notes get sweeter and start to remind you of salmiak sweetness even. wonderful!
The aftertaste is wonderful as well. When the coffee is hot, there is a freshness to the brew, almost feeling like a toothpaste/minty freshness. This last for only a short while though. The aftertaste gradually changes into sugared tea and transforming into black tea with a lavender dryness to it.
In terms of acidity this is also a gem! When the coffee is hot, the high acidity is lemon/grapefruit like and complements the tasting notes. When the coffee cools down, the acidity turns Alkaline a little which fits perfectly with the salmiac note that appears in the coffee.
Throughout the tasting the mouthfeel plays a big role. There are three stages in this coffee that you will notice. The first is the grapefruit mouthfeel when the coffee is hot and, in a lesser way, throughout the tasting. When the coffee cools down you will notice a salmiak mouthfeel as well and a soft subtle dryness of your gums and the side of your tongue. Overall the brew feels silky in your mouth, until the tannins set in of course.
Alt Wien Kaffee – Kainamui AA: The verdict.
If I was to look up ‘Washed Kenya’ in the dictionary, I’d find a picture of the Kainamui AA for sure. This coffee has everything I look for in a washed Kenya. Tomato, Grapefruit, Raisins, Raspberry, Nori Leaf even! The acidity and mouthfeel are like two pea’s in a pod and the way this coffee changes from savory to sweet keeps you immersed each time drinking it. In short: it is all in there and Oliver Goetz did a magnificent job roasting this coffee.
If you have the possibility to buy this coffee, don’t hesitate for a second and do so!
Here is a link to the Alt Wien Kaffee webshop. I do not get paid for this review of this link. It is just a courtesy to the roaster and the shop.