Let’s head into the second half of the week with another coffee from Madison County, Iowa! This time I’m looking at Pammel Park’s Kenya Embu AA, a treat for both Kenyan coffee aficionados and especially people who may be intimidated by trying this “King of Coffee.” I have not found a more accessible Kenyan coffee in recent memory, so let’s get drinking!
Purchase this coffee for $12/12oz
Other reviews in this series: Espresso Blend | Costa Rica Natural Microlot
PAMMEL PARK COFFEE CO. KENYA EMBU AA
I’ve been super impressed with the coffees I’ve been enjoying from Pammel Park Coffee Co. Pammel Park was started by Matt and Naomi Upton in 2018. Matt worked for the famed Cafe Imports for close to 20 years before returning to his family’s farm in Winterset, Iowa (Madison County, as in the covered bridges made famous by the book and movie). This is why you can’t judge a book by its cover. On first glance, someone may think, “Coffee from a tiny town in central Iowa? Right” when, in fact, Matt couldn’t have more coffee knowledge about sourcing and roasting since he did that work professionally for so long. This is what I love so much about discovering new roasters!
This morning I’m taking a peek of Pammel Park’s Kenya Embu AA. Kenyan coffees are generally associated with lots of acidity and bright grapefruit and other citrus notes as the dominant flavors. They tend to be complex and have a lot going on in the cup. As you can imagine, though, there are lots of coffee growing regions and variations among them. Over the past few years, Cafe Imports and other green coffee importers have been focusing on the differences between coffees grown in different counties, with Embu County being one of them. Embu County is located in the Western Rift Valley, east of Mount Kenya, and the coffees are supposed to be quite different from the “typical” Kenyan profile I mentioned above. Coffee grows in the 1700-2000masl range in Embu County and this coffee is likely a mix of the classic Kenyan SL-28, SL-34, Ruiru 11 and others, although that’s just a guess. In the Kenyan coffee trade, most coffee is grown on small plots and farmers work together in co-ops. During harvest, the coffee cherries are sorted and mixed from multiple farmers and, ultimately, most Kenyan coffee is still screened for the size of the beans and sold in lots by size. This gives them a nice uniform size and shape and that may impact roasting, but it’s not like bigger beans are inherently better. AA, like this coffee from Pammel Park, is the biggest size. Doing some research on Embu County coffees, I’m expecting some fruitiness, but more sugary, darker notes than what is usually found in Kenyan coffees.
Popping open the bag, this coffee is, at least visually, what I would call a medium roast. I used my standard pourover setup for my cups, using a 1:16 ratio of 22g of coffee to 352g of Third Wave Water in a Trinity Origin brewer with a Kalita 155 filter. I use a Melodrip to control pulse pouring and a Knock Aergrind for the heavy lifting. This coffee took about 3:10 total, including a 30 second bloom.
I’m getting some sweetness, caramelized sugars, in the aroma from this cup, but that’s about it. We kicked fully into allergy season in Kansas City over the last few days so my nose is a little stuffed up and that could be part of it, too. Taking a sip, this has a medium-heavy to almost-heavy body with a slick mouthfeel that reminds me of an oatmeal stout in that slipperiness the oatmeal imparts to that style of beer. As expected, there is a lot of sweetness and some darker caramelization going on here, and I’m not getting that bright, sparkling, pithy, big grapefruit/citrus blast of acidity that is the classic Kenyan profile. The first flavors to hit my palate are a hint of honey and brown sugar and medium caramel sweetness. There is good balance to this cup and there is nice acidity, but it’s not that citrus and grapefruit but rather more of a tropical note. Papaya and guava and then as those flavors rest on my palate a bit they turn into a little more of a pineapple vibe. This fruitiness complements the caramelized sugars in this coffee really nicely and I can almost imagine a dessert using grilled tropical fruits as I sip this coffee. Toward the end of the sip I’m getting a hint of cocoa and a stronger note of toffee. As the coffee leaves my palate there is an ever-so-slight roasty note in my sinuses, but Matt did a great job of taking this coffee probably just as far as he could to get as much sweetness out of it before bringing in too much roastiness. As the coffee cools I’m getting a little more of an apple note in with those tropical fruits, too.
This is just a delightful coffee! It’s perfectly balanced between sugary sweet and brighter acidity and that makes it super easy-drinking. There’s nice complexity to this cup and if you take your time with it, you can really pull a lot of different flavor notes out of it, but at the same time, if this was sitting on your desk as you work and you weren’t paying any attention to it, it’d still make for a great coffee and its complexity doesn’t get in the way of its drinkability. Another big score for Matt and Naomi and Pammel Park Coffee Co.! And at $12, it’s an absolute steal!