| COUNTRY: Kenya VARIETY: SL28, SL34 and Riuru 11 ALTITUDE: 1100 – 1400 MASL PROCESS: Washed ROAST: Light-medium |
EXTRACTION SETTINGS
- Equipment: Gaggia Classic Pro E24, DF54 Grinder
- Grind setting: 8.5 (fine)
- Dose in/yield out: 17.0g in / 36.7g out
- Extraction time: 27 seconds
- Other notes: 18g IMS precision basket, 1.0mm puck screen, frozen beans.
RAVE coffee was a baptism of fire. This was the first coffee I used on my new machine, bought at the start of 2026. I had to learn how to use a manual machine, simultaneously stop my timer when stopping extraction and figuring out my target yields. I had to retrain my milk steaming skills to get smooth and silky ‘wet paint’ gloss for my lattes.
I would like to say it was all rather stressful but I would be lying. I loved the journey; the tinkering around with settings, the playful experimentation and getting to taste all of my (sometimes failed) attempts. I was watching countless YouTube videos and learning from others in coffee forums. When I am hyper-fixated on something I love, I am in my prime.
Eventually, I managed to find the sweet spot and dialled this Kenya grown bean. I found myself in a fairly flavourful place. My paper notes mention that this light-medium roast espresso tasted like citrus fruits, tea and cream most notably. Even though I tended to enjoy this coffee with milk, the packaging and website seemed pretty keen on it being a filter coffee. The milk did unfortunately mute some of those lighter fruitier flavours and dull its clarity.
It wasn’t a coffee to really sing and dance about but I think this is my gentle reminder to get my pour over gear out and try it long and black. Next time…
Rating: 🤎 🤎 ( 2 / 5 ) Fresh and complex.
| FLAVOUR PROFILE |
| – Flavour: Dark chocolate, grapefruit and rhubarb – Acidity: Sparkling, crisp – Body: Black tea, rounded – Finish: Lingering |
A BIT ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
High altitudes, colder temperatures, abundant rainfall and deep red (and rich) volcanic soil create ideal conditions for growing high quality Coffea arabica in Murung County, central Kenya. The Mutheru washing station, a part of the Kariua Farmers Cooperative Society, sits within this region of rich culture, history and remarkable coffee crop with notable profiles.
More information can be found from the roaster, @RaveCoffee.
Until the next brew,
Coffee Log 
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