Kenya — Mbature Family Kamavindi Estate SL28 & SL34 (Experimental Honey)

Tastes Like — 🍑 Red Plum • 🍑 Dried Apricot • 🍯 Honeycomb • 🍬 Caramel

DETAILS

• Producer: Peter Mbature, Hellen & Gladwell Mbature
• Farm: Kamavindi Estate
• Region: Kibugo, Embu, Kenya
• Varietal: SL28 & SL34
• Process: Honey (Experimental)
• Elevation: 1,638–1,750 masl

INTRO
Almost everything in Kenya is washed, so a honey out of Embu is rare to begin with — and this one is rarer still. A true experimental microlot, built from a small quantity of underripe cherries that would normally vanish into a lower grade. Red plum and dried apricot lead, honeycomb runs underneath, and caramel closes it out. In the cup: red plum, dried apricot, honeycomb, and caramel.

THE PRODUCER
John Njiru Mbature planted Kamavindi in 1958, starting with the hundred trees colonial law then allowed, expanding once restrictions lifted. His son Peter farms it today alongside his mother Hellen and sister Gladwell. At the end of last year, a slow-drying indoor dark room was introduced to dry the coffee more gently and hold onto clarity, sweetness, and structure — exactly the setup this experimental lot was built for. Kamavindi is also where what may be the first Geisha ever cultivated in Kenya was found.

THE PROCESS
This lot began as a small quantity of underripe cherries, separated out from the estate's highest quality coffee rather than sent through the mill with everything else. The cherries rested whole for about three days, allowing them to continue developing, before being pulped. The sweet mucilage stayed on the parchment right through drying — where a washed lot has all of it stripped away first.

Leaving the mucilage on through the gentle dark-room drying is the defining step — it's what pulls the fruit away from the sharp blackcurrant of the estate's washed lots and into something rounder, building the red plum, dried apricot, and honeycomb character that define this cup.

THE CUP
Round and rich — red plum and dried apricot lead, honeycomb runs underneath, and caramel closes out the finish. A genuinely rare experimental result from a part of the harvest that would normally disappear into a lower grade.

Flavour Notes
🍑 Red Plum 🍑 Dried Apricot 🍯 Honeycomb 🍬 Caramel