cranberry, currant, blackberry juiciness

Sully and I were in Nyeri to visit Othaya and a few others in early March 2020 and made it home through a circuitous route through Instanbul because the world was already beginning to shelter in place. As I cupped through many outturns to put this Kamoini lot together, Sully (then 8) ran laps around the green storage building in the rain and made friends with the workers unloading the trucks that kept arriving full of green coffee. He watched, amazed, as 5 women unloaded one full truck, each one backing up to the tailgate and balancing 175 pounds of green coffee on her back.

Othaya has been handling coffees for export since the 1950s and things run like clockwork--this is the fifth year that we've purchased the Kamoini through them and the cup is what we dream of in Kenyas: clean fruit, linear acidity, compelling structure, so much sweetness.

Sully and I will be back to visit Kamoini and Othaya as soon as we can and until then, we scroll through our pictures of giraffes, elephants, bags lining the cupping room shelves, our friend Phyllis buying fruit on the side of the road and the women of Othaya in bright patterns, doing the hard work that excellent coffee requires.

-jodi