Review: Kenya Grand Cru From Allego Coffee Roasters


  • Allegro Coffee Roasters


    The Coffee

    Beans: Kenya Grand Cru
    Roaster: Allegro Coffee Roasters

    A few weeks ago I ran into a problem that from time to time all of us face — running out of coffee. You can plan and plan all you want, but sometimes you just can’t calculate when its time to order coffee.

    Instead of freaking out I ran to my local market to grab some coffee. I knew it wouldn’t be all that fresh, but I have some knowledge of how to find the freshest coffee available. Its all about making sure those “sell by/use by” dates are above 6 months.

    So what coffee did I purchase? I picked up some Kenya Grand Cru from Allegro Coffee Roasters. I picked this coffee out of the bin which is something I never do, but it said it had just been filled so I thought it was going to be the freshest versus the bags of sealed coffee with sell by/use by dates either passed or just weeks away.

    I got home and to my dismay found the coffee was not up to par. I couldn’t distinguish whether or not the coffee was fresh. I took my frustration to Twitter without thinking and expressed my concern for coffee companies not putting a roast date on their coffee bag but instead using a “sell by/use by date.” The tweet landed a reply and then to emails from Allegro Coffee Roasters themselves.

    To make a long story short, they hunted down the market to make sure propor protocol and handing was taken with the beans in the bin. Also, to make it up to me I was sent two pounds fresh off the roaster.

    I feel bad about taking my frustration onto Twitter, but in some ways I am glad I did. Allegro Coffee Roasters isn’t about selling coffee, but selling great coffee as well as making sure you have a pleasant experience.

    I was beyond excited to taste some of their coffee fresh off the roaster and experience it as it aged.

    Equipment/Brewing Method

    Brew Method: Aeropress
    Grinder/Grind Size: Baratza Virtuoso Preciso – Dial 22
    Bean/Water Ratio: 15g/220g

    Notes:

    Dried fruit is the first thing you notice when you take a sip. Digging deeper the dried fruit note evolves into sweet dates and luscious figs. With each sip as the coffee cools, a tea like play comes through as well as lemon hints. I also found a very nice berry note as the coffee cooled, but I couldn’t tell what kind of berry it was I was tasting.

    This is a Kenya like no other. A Kenya with more tea like qualities and dried fruit notes than the juicy explosion of fruits and lingering sweetness that I’ve come across.

    Intense and complex with notes of plush red wine, blackberry, currant, grapefruit and lemon with juicy acidity and syrupy body. ~ Allegro Coffee Roasters

    Verdict:
    I was not expecting the tea like play coming from this Kenya. In fact, I wasn’t expecting any of the notes I tasted in this coffee.

    Overall, this coffee surprised me in a really good way. This opened my eyes that not all Kenyas are just a big cup of rainbows. ;)

    Score:
    90/100

    More Info About This Coffee

    Region: Kenya
    Varietal: N/A
    Processing: N/A
    Altitude: N/A
    Harvest Season/Date: N/A
    Cost: Varied



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    September 20th, 2011 | Jamie | No Comments | Tags: , , , ,

About The Author

Jamie Ferguson

From sunny Sarasota Florida, Jamie Ferguson has been drinking coffee since a very young age. Jamie is just your average jane who has a serious addiction to coffee, but more so has a bigger love for the heart, and the dedication that is put into growing, processing and roasting coffee. Come and join the adventures...