We have entered the liminality of March. Still winter, still naked trees, still a damp chill in the air, but there’s a bend in the road and just beyond it is spring. Its lushness, its magnolia and cherry blossoms, its insects and frog croaks and daffodils and rain, rain, rain, but that’s nothing new. It’s a dream and a memory and eventually it’ll come back around and the sweet, earthy smell will linger until it doesn’t and then it will return, even if just for a second, even if just in a stairwell halfway across the world.
We at Pollard cannot promise our coffee as a cure-all to time-related existential woes, but what a reprieve in the throes of all this time! This month our Coffee of the Month club features the unconventional Kenya Narok. Sourced from the young Mara Estate in Western Kenya, these beans are born of a wide savannah full of sun next door to Kenya’s most famous big game reserve and safari. Founded in 2019, Mara is one of many coffee growers in Kenya post- independence working to put the lesser-known regions on the map as they employ surrounding families.
As a Batian variety—government developed for quality and disease resistance—Kenya Narok
offers unexpected and delightful flavors. Additionally, Mara uses a four-day barrel-fermenting process to allow the fruit to sweeten, creating its fruity, creamy flavor. After the partial fermentation, the beans are laid out to dry on raised beds.
If you’re looking for something a little different this month, subscribe to our Coffee of the Month Club today to receive a bag of Kenya Narok. Subscribe for one month, three months, six months, one year, or until cancelled and never miss an exciting limited time offer. Non-subscribers will be able to purchase Kenya Narok in April, but for a higher price, and it will sell out fast.
Don’t be afraid to get wild with your coffee. Drink it while wearing a very tall hat. Drink it out of the expensive china that sits in your father’s cabinet collecting dust. Listen to Chet Faker out of doors while watching the vines turn green and your empty cup fill with rain drops. It won’t change your life, but it will provide ambiance.
Hang in there. Those magnolias will be here any minute. Just one minute.
Grower: Mara Estate
Variety: Batian
Region: Narok County, Kenya
Process: Cherry fermented natural
Altitude: 1600-1800 masl
Volcanic: Clay loam
Harvest: May - July
Tasting Notes: Mango, Almond and Cocoa Nib