Bluebird Coffee - Kamwangi PB Selection Washed | Kenya

Kenya — Kamwangi Coffee Factory SL28, SL34, Batian & Ruiru 11 (Washed, Peaberry)

Tastes Like — 🫐 Blackberry • 🍇 Red Grape

DETAILS

• Producer: Kamwangi Factory (1,000+ farmers)
• Region: Kirinyaga, Kenya
• Varietal: SL28, SL34, Batian & Ruiru 11
• Process: Washed, Peaberry Selection
• Elevation: 1,500–1,800 masl
• Years of Collaboration: 7

INTRO
Kamwangi Peaberry makes its return for the second year in a row, with the deep and sweet profile that's been grown to love over the past few seasons. Peaberry coffees form when a single bean grows alone in a cherry, rather than as the usual pair — giving them a rounder shape and smaller size than their AB and AA counterparts. Deeper sweetness and more balance define the drinking experience here, with flavours of blackberry and red grape, richer sweetness, and a more delicate, tartaric acidity. In the cup: black cherry and red grape.

THE PRODUCER
Kamwangi Coffee Factory is located in the Kirinyaga region of Kenya, servicing well over 1,000 farmers in the surrounding area. Established in the early 80s, it's been producing some of the best washed coffees from Kirinyaga for the past 40 years, famous for high sweetness and bright acidity.

A visit to the factory in 2025 — the first buying trip to Kenya — revealed drying beds cascading down the slope into the valley below the station entrance, with Mount Kenya towering over the horizon. Farmers in the area grow mostly Batian and Ruiru 11 trees, supplementing their income with small livestock, avocados, and macadamia nuts. This is now the seventh season buying Kamwangi coffee, and each year, cupping the final options for the Kenyan shipment blind still results in multiple Kamwangi selections rising from a table of 20+ coffees.

THE PROCESS
This lot is Washed, then separated by screen size to isolate the naturally occurring peaberry seeds — this specific selection making it the perfect third in this season's trinity of Kamwangi coffees.

The peaberry separation is the defining step — its rounder, denser single-seed structure is what concentrates the deeper sweetness and more delicate, tartaric acidity behind the blackberry and red grape character that define this cup.

THE CUP
Deep and sweet — blackberry and red grape lead, with a richer sweetness and a more delicate, tartaric acidity than the estate's standard AB and AA lots.

Flavour Notes
🫐 Blackberry 🍇 Red Grape