Sandbox - Nyeri Hill Estate Washed AB Separation | Kenya

Kenya — Nyeri Hill Estate SL28, SL34, Batian & Ruiru 11 (Washed, AB)

Tastes Like — 🫐 Blackcurrant • 🍒 Redcurrant Juice • 🌸 Floral

DETAILS

• Producer: Nyeri Hill Estate
• Region: Nyeri County, Kenya
• Varietal: SL28, SL34, Batian & Ruiru 11
• Process: Washed
• Elevation: 1,800–2,200 masl
• Harvest: 2025/2026
• Roast Profile: Omniroast

INTRO Grown across all four of Kenya's signature varieties on one of East Africa's oldest coffee farms — first planted in 1914. Florals open the nose, followed by blackcurrant and redcurrant juice on the palate, with a syrupy sweetness and a bright, juicy acidity carrying through the finish. In the cup: blackcurrant, redcurrant juice, and floral.

THE PRODUCER Nyeri Hill Estate lies in Nyeri County on the slopes of Mount Kenya, one of the oldest coffee farms in East Africa. The estate is run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri and spans over 1,400 hectares, with around 340 devoted to coffee grown between 1,800 and 2,200 meters in volcanic red soil. More than 350 permanent staff and thousands of seasonal pickers work the harvest each year, and profits from the coffee support local schools, a teachers' college, and a mission hospital — making the estate as much a community institution as a coffee farm.

SL28 and SL34 date to the 1930s work of Scott Laboratories, prized for vivid acidity and blackcurrant character, though both remain vulnerable to leaf rust and coffee berry disease. Batian and Ruiru 11 were bred later by Kenya's Coffee Research Institute to resist those same diseases while approaching the cup quality of the SL series. Grown side by side at Nyeri Hill, the four varieties combine to give the lot Kenya's signature juicy acidity, blackcurrant intensity, and layered complexity.

THE PROCESS Ripe cherries are selectively picked, then depulped to remove the outer skin. The beans ferment in water or dry for a controlled period to break down the remaining mucilage, before thorough washing and drying on raised beds over one to two weeks, turned regularly for even moisture loss.

The combination of four varieties grown and processed together is the defining factor here — it's what builds the layered complexity behind the blackcurrant and redcurrant juice character, while the washed method keeps the cup clean and transparent.

THE CUP Clean and juicy — floral aromatics open the nose, blackcurrant and redcurrant juice follow on the palate with a syrupy sweetness, and a bright, juicy acidity carries through to the finish. A layered, community-rooted expression of Nyeri's classic profile.

Flavour Notes 🫐 Blackcurrant 🍒 Redcurrant Juice 🌸 Floral