Hello, good morning, afternoon or evening, welcome back for day 5 of the WBB Advent Calendar! 

Today we have another gem roasted by an incredible coffee pro, Stephen from Lucid Coffee.

I forgot to say, grab a cup of coffee or preferred beverage (and maybe a pen and paper) because this one is a long one with a lot of info because Stephen is incredibly transparent about the coffee he brings into his roastery. We love transparency and the more roasteries that are transparent the better!

So who are Lucid?

"Lucid meaning - To be expressed clearly, easy to understand, Vivid.

At Lucid Coffee roasters we want to share our passion for coffee, where it comes from,how it gets here, how we roast it, how it can be brewed to showcase all the wonderful characteristics of origins and processes we have access to.

Founded in 2021 by Stephen Houston, a well known coffee professional, a person who enjoys learning, advising on and producing some of the best coffees in the world, He began Lucid with the goal of breaking down barriers between consumer and producer, to be open and transparent with every part of the business, to express clearly what the producers wanted to do with their coffee through roasting and brewing.  

Lucid will share prices of green coffee, roast profiles, brewing advice, staff profiles and any other points that will help you see the complexity and excitement around every cup."

Producers + Mill:

Lot 20 are a group that work with a coffee producers from Kericho and Bomet counties in the southern part of the Rift Valley in Kenya. They are passionate about cultivating, fair treatment of producers, and transparent trade.The group has goals to produce delicious coffee that showcases the beauty of their home region.
With auction being the main option of selling coffee in Kenya, sourcing transparently can be difficult on a good day, and near impossible on a bad one. Lot 20 however is trying something new: exporting their coffee themselves.

Kericho county has a long history of Coffee. In fact, the Kipkelion and Fort Tenan regions actually boast some of the first coffee farms in Kenya, which were originally planted by foreign settlers. Despite this, Kericho county (and by extension Bomet) are not as known for producing coffee as central Kenya. This is partially due to the fact that central Kenya’s coffee gets sold in bulk by
large exporters through the national auctioning system, and also because the farmers from Kericho and Bomet counties generally work within under-managed cooperatives that coffee dealers like to take advantage of for cheap prices. Lot 20’s work in the region has been to try and organise Kericho and Bomet farmers into properly functioning entities that process and sell coffee on their own, without the assistance of middle men or the auction system.

Varieties:

SL28 & SL34

Scott Laboratories – or Scott Labs – was established during British colonial rule of Kenya in the 1920s.Set up as an agricultural research centre, its role was to improve farming practices through technical advice and training on behalf of the Department of Agriculture.

Coffee, which was already integral to the Kenyan economy, quickly became the chief focus. In particular, researchers were keen to explore varieties that could offer long-term benefits, such as high yields and resistance to droughts and pests.

The idea was that they could distribute these varieties to farmers, who would then plant them on a commercial scale.

Together with the Lyamungo Research Station in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), they selected 42 different coffee trees to study.

SL28 was identified on a single tree in Tanzania and soon became ubiquitous thanks to its drought-resistance, high yield, and desirable cup profile. Since then, it has spread to other coffee-growing origins, including Uganda and Central America.

SL34 is also part of the Bourbon-Typica family and has adapted to grow in high altitude areas with a good amount of rainfall.

The variety was a single tree found on the private land of Loresho Estate in Kabete, Kenya. This tree was labelled “French Mission”, after its historical ties with French missionaries who had distributed original Bourbon seeds from the island of Réunion.

Both varieties are known for their exceptional quality and high yields. However, they are also recognised for susceptibility to diseases, such as coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease

Region: Bomet

Producer: Sidney Kibet (Lot 20 Coffee)

Farm: Ainabtany

Importer: Omwani

Price (green ex Shipping): £ 9.69pkg

Variety: Sl28 & SL34

Process: Washed

Altitude: 1500-1700masl

Tasting: High sweetness, Clean, Bright acidity, Full body

Flavours like: Blackcurrant cordial, Lemonade, Brown sugar.

Let's Brew

For all coffees when tasting I used a 18g/225g recipe, which I feel really brought out the best in so many of the coffees I picked for the calendar (if you have a physical WBB advent, you have 22.2g (of course I had to include angel numbers) to play around with)

Let's taste

Continuing my theme of just saying whatever the hell comes to my brain, on first sip, this coffee literally made me want to do Jazz hands. 

It was fruity, reminded be of stone fruit and crisp apples, with a little underlying blackcurrant in there. 

Smooth, funky, complex, fresh, this coffee was an absolute stunner, and I know everyone that has a physical calendar is going to absolutely love todays! 

Want to try this coffee for yourself?

Click Here

See you tomorrow for Day 6! 

WBB x