Side by side comparison
Kenya and Brazil
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Sensory Contrast at a Glance
Sweetness
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Brazil●●●●
Sparkle & Acidity
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Body & Weight
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Sensory Radar Overlay
- Kenya
- Brazil
| Metric | Kenya | Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Punchy and juicy: blackcurrant, grapefruit, and a syrupy sweetness. Not a gentle starter, but vivid if you like bright fruit. | A cozy, low-acid cup that often tastes like milk chocolate, toasted nuts, and caramel. A gentle place to start if cafe lattes are what you drink now. |
| Tasting notes | blackcurrant, grapefruit, tomato leaf, brown sugar, black tea | milk chocolate, toasted hazelnut, caramel, peanut brittle, low citrus |
| Who grows it | Smallholder cooperatives delivering to named factories (wet mills). | Estate farms and cooperatives in Cerrado Mineiro, often with mechanical harvest. |
| Producers in detail | A typical Nyeri or Kirinyaga lot is hundreds of families, each with a small plot, delivering cherry to a factory owned by a Farmer Cooperative Society. Factory names (Gichathaini, Gititu, Karimikui) are the producer credit. Estates exist around Kiambu; central-highland sparkle more often comes from the co-op system. | Unlike East African smallholders delivering cherry to a washing station, many Cerrado producers run their own mill. Names on specialty bags include families around Serra do Salitre and Patrocínio, and members of the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation. Look for a farm name plus “natural” or “pulped natural” - that is more useful than the old “Santos” grade. |
| Terroir | Volcanic slopes of Mount Kenya: red nitisols, high altitude, two rainy seasons. The coffee belt sits under forest reserve. That geology plus the double-wash protocol is why Kenya does not taste like a washed Colombia even when both are “washed Arabica.” | Cerrado is dry in harvest season, with distinct wet and dry periods and relatively even temperatures. Flat or gently rolling plateaus let machines shake ripe cherry from the trees. Soils were corrected for agriculture; the cup’s chocolate and nut come from that climate and from naturals drying in predictable sun, not from volcanic drama. |
| Process | Typically double-washed, then soaked, then dried on raised beds. | Often natural or pulped natural (a honey-style lot); some washed lots. |
| Process in detail | Kenya’s factories pulp cherry, ferment, wash in channels that also grade by density, then soak parchment in clean water for another 12–24 hours. That second soak is the “Kenya wash” - it strips residual pulp and is why the cup is so clean and loud. AA, AB, and PB are screen sizes, not farms. | Cerrado farms dry whole cherries on patios, then often finish in mechanical dryers - Brazil’s scale makes naturals consistent rather than wild. Pulped natural (cereja descascada) strips the skin but leaves mucilage, a honey-like middle path. Washed Brazils exist, but they are the exception on supermarket and cafe bags. |
| Brew tag | Filter | Filter or espresso |
| Bag cue | Look for Kenya, Nyeri or Kirinyaga, blackcurrant, AA if listed. | Look for Brazil, Cerrado or Santos, chocolate or nut, medium roast. |
| Cafe order | A Kenya, Nyeri or Kirinyaga, light roast, black - the blackcurrant one. | A medium-roast Brazil, Cerrado or Santos if you have it - chocolate and nut, in a latte. |
| Milk | Black | Black, Dairy, Oat |
| Species | arabica | arabica |
| Altitude (light) | High-grown - often 1,600–2,000m | Lower than East African lots - often 800–1,300m |
| Altitude (detail) | Nyeri and Kirinyaga lots typically sit 1,600–2,000m on volcanic red clay. Mount Kenya and the Aberdares shape rainfall into two wet seasons and two harvests. Cool nights plus volcanic soil are the structural reason Kenyan acidity reads as currant rather than simple lemon. | Cerrado Mineiro’s protected origin requires Arabica grown above 800m; specialty lots commonly sit 950–1,300m. That is cooler than Santos lowlands, but still warmer than a 2,000m Nariño farm, which is why acidity stays round instead of sparkling. |
| Varieties | SL28, SL34; Batian and Ruiru 11 on newer lots | Mundo Novo, Catuaí, Bourbon (when labeled) |
| Harvest | Main crop roughly October–December; fly crop around April–June. | Main harvest roughly May–September, in Brazil’s dry winter. |
| Brew rec | Pour-over, plenty of water (1:16 or 1:17) so currant stays juicy instead of sharp. Light roast only. | French press or espresso with milk shows the cocoa. For filter, a medium grind and a slightly cooler kettle keep it sweet instead of dusty. |