Country: Kenya
Region: Kiambu, Central Kenya
Varietal: SL28, SL34
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1,500 - 1,800 MASL
Cupping Notes: Grapefruit, Honey, Black Currant
Recommended Roast:City to Full City
Good For:Pour Over, Auto Drip, Espresso

Description: Windrush Estate sits in Kiambu County, in the highlands just north of Nairobi on the southern slopes of the Aberdare Range. Kiambu is one of Kenya's oldest coffee-growing districts — it's where the estate model took root in the early twentieth century, and the area's deep red volcanic soils, cool nights, and altitude between 1,500 and 1,800 meters are a large part of why Kenyan coffee earned its reputation in the first place.

The estate is run by the Gatatha Farmers Company, a producer-owned company managed by local smallholders. That structure is a little different from the cooperative-society-and-factory model most Kenyan lots come through: here the land, the processing, and the decisions sit with a single farmer-owned entity, which tends to mean tighter control over cherry selection and processing from one lot to the next.

SL28 and SL34 — the two cultivars that define classic Kenyan cup character. Both were selected by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s. SL28 is a Bourbon-derived selection prized for its intense black currant and citrus acidity and its drought tolerance; SL34 is a related selection better suited to higher-rainfall zones, with a heavier body and a slightly softer, more complex acidity. Together they produce the profile Kenyan coffee is known for: high, wine-like acidity layered over a syrupy body. This lot is an AB, which is a screen-size grade, not a quality score. Kenyan mills sort dry-milled coffee by bean size: AA is screen 17–18, AB is screen 15–16 (with some 17s), and PB is peaberry. AB lots from a good estate routinely cup as well as the AA from the same trees.