Manhattan Coffee Roasters - Kenya (Dog and Hat Box)

 Welcome back to the official week of the Dog and Hat Box! 

This is the second "week of Dog and Hat" here on The Coffee Life - and we'll be highlighting July's delicious box! (it's a bit late, I know) 


The first roaster out of this box is Manhattan Coffee Roasters.


So, who are they?

Manhattan Coffee Roasters is based in the Dutch harbour city of Rotterdam. Run by long time coffee professionals and competitors Ben Morrow and Esther Maasdam.

The name Manhattan Coffee Roasters is inspired by the history of the harbour in Rotterdam. In particular the Holland America line that sailed from Rotterdam to New York. Rotterdam is situated next to the river Maas and being the only modern city with a gorgeous skyline in the Netherlands, it is locally named "Manhattan ann de Maas" 

At Manhattan Coffee Roasters they want to celebrate local history, but also be open about their International aspirations. 

"Join us on our adventure from Rotterdam to the world"

Roaster used - Probat






From smallholders at the Kianjege washing station in Kirinyaga County region of Kenya.

There are around 700,000 producers across Kenya, and they tend to work completely by hand, from picking to drying and processing to sorting. The rich red volcanic soils of the central region are known to produce some of the best coffees coming out of Kenya. Kianjege Coffee Factory is located in Central Province, Kirinyaga District in Kariti location of Ndia Division near Karatina town. It was established in 1987 and rests on a 7 acre piece of land serving Nyagathi, Nyangio and Kimathi Villages.

Coffee in Kenya is often thought of as SL's - 28 and 34 most commonly, but in the 1980's Ruiru was released as a crossing to counteract their weakness - Coffee Borer Disease, or CBD. It has a complex make up, owning parts to Catimor as the mother plant, and a multicross of selection amongst others K7 (a nod to the varietal input from India after the rust outbreak in Ceylon), SL28, N39 (a Tanzanian Bourbon selection from the 1920's) and Sudan Rume.


SCA Score: 86

Process: Washed

Altitude: 1495MASL

Varietal: Ruiru-11 and SL-28

Taste Notes: Blackberry, Redcurrant, Dr Pepper



Let's Brew!

Brewer - V60 

Recipe - 20g of Coffee to 300g of Water

30 Second Bloom, with slight agitation (40g of water)

3 Minute 15 Second Total Brew Time



My favourite coffee's are typically Kenya (just because they're generally super sweet and yummy!) and this one did not disappoint! - On first sip, I got really subtle berry notes, with lots of super sweet undertones running through it. 

As it cooled, I can definitely see where they were getting the Dr Pepper taste note from, I can never describe what flavour comes from Dr Pepper (because apparently it's 23 fruity flavours?! who knew?!) but it had a similar taste as it cooled more. 

I just love how fruity Kenyan's are!






Find Manhattan Coffee Roasters

Website - here

Instagram - here



Find Dog and Hat Box

Get your own box! (£4 off your first box!) - here

Website - here

Instagram - here


Check out all the other blog posts I've done on Dog and Hat boxes - here!




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