It has been a while since I had any coffee from my friends in Indiana at S&W Craft Roasting, so I’m excited to try this new Kenyan coffee they’ve been roasting, which they affectionately refer to as “G-Money.” Find out why, and let’s get drinking!
Purchase this coffee directly for $17/lb (16oz!)
S&W CRAFT ROASTING KENYA GICHATHAINI AA TOP
S&W Craft Roasting are some of my favorite roasters. I particularly love how “punk rock” and “anti-trend” S&W is just by their very nature, without trying to be! S&W is a couple of regular guys, Nick and Charlie, who roast coffee from their humble roastery in the small town of Coatesville, IN, far away from any “scenes” and über-chic modernist minimalist cafe spaces or pretentiousness. Their website and labeling is strictly old-school and they don’t apologize for it. Their marketing is minimal, relying on their coffee to do their selling for them. What customers like best is that all of this translates to exceptional value. By the pound (full 16oz bags, not 12 oz), S&W Craft Roasting coffees run $14-$17. This Kenyan selection is their most expensive coffee they’re roasting currently, sitting at $16.95/lb, which is less expensive than some hyped, flashy roastery’s least expensive offering. Good sourcing, good roasting, value for customers… what’s not to like?
Nick and Charlie purchased this coffee while it was still on the boat coming across the ocean. It was agreed upon and shipped so fast that, after receiving it, they realized they hadn’t been invoiced and didn’t even know how much they were paying for this lot! They had fallen in love with this coffee already, and as it turned out, they paid over 50% more for this coffee than the most expensive Kenyan coffee they’d ever purchased, which makes the price on this coffee stand out as a value even more. Charlie affectionately started calling this coffee, from the Gichathaini mill, G-Money for this reason! LOL On their website they even apologize for it being outside their target price range. $17/lb, I think S&W drinkers can handle it, guys, but thanks for the explanation anyway!
This coffee is AA top grade. Kenyan coffee is sorted by size, with AA being the largest. It comes from the Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society and was washed at the Gichathaini mill. It’s SL-28, SL-34 and Ruiru-11 varieties, the classic Kenyan mix, grown around 1600-1900masl. Nick and Charlie say this coffee is great with any preparation method, and I’m using my standard pourover method of a 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of water in a notNeutral Gino with Handground grinder set to 3 and using Third Wave Water.
S&W give us tasting notes of, “dense mouthfeel, soft blood orange acidity, brown sugar sweetness and nutmeg/ginger tones.” They say adding dairy to this one turns it into a creamsicle, although I couldn’t test that out for myself! Nick told me this is the lightest roast they’ve put on a coffee yet, so I’m excited to try it out!
On the aroma, I get a little caramel and some soft orange juice notes. Taking my first few sips, this coffee is exactly as promised! It has just short of what I would call a heavy body with a creamy, dairy-like mouthfeel. It’s super sweet with blood orange juice (luckily, I just drank a San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa soda last night, so my palate is set up perfectly for this coffee!) dripping off my palate. There is a special density to the sweetness of this cup, like syrup just lying heavily on my tongue. Usually, Kenyan coffees reach into the grapefruit range when it comes to acidity and citrus flavors, and in the aftertaste I can visualize some light pink grapefruit notes, but in the actual flavor of the coffee, it’s all blood orange… thick, sweet, syrupy, juicy and bright, but not harsh in the least, and very nicely balanced by all that sweetness inherent in the cup.
I can see why Nick and Charlie agreed to buy this without even knowing the price! What a coffee! It’s so citrusy without being even remotely abrasive. The orange acidity is super clear but it’s sweet and balanced and comes off like drinking fruit juice. There are some baking spices for me in the long aftertaste. As the cup cools there is a hint of savory in the cup and it’s on that borderline for the tomato notes that some Kenyan coffees can have. I know tomato sounds weird for a coffee note, but Kenyan coffees often have it and while this one stops just short, it’s right there and I always like that hint of the unusual in a coffee! This is a fantastic drinker, especially at what I would call “lukewarm” temps. It’s syrupy, dense, clear and structured and that orange juiciness is just perfect. Buy this coffee, you won’t be disappointed. As an added bonus, Nick and Charlie have the best customer service I’ve ever heard of in the world of coffee, so you will not be disappointed ordering from them, trust me!