Kenya Gura Peaberry

October's coffee comes from Nyeri County, in the highlands of central Kenya, where the volcanic soil is mineral-rich and the coffee grows between 1,700 and 1,890 meters. About 500 smallholder producers pick their own cherry and deliver it to the Gura Factory, which processes it as one lot.

It is a peaberry. Most coffee cherries hold two flat beans facing each other; in a peaberry, one round bean forms alone. The varieties are some of Kenya's most respected: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11 and Batian. At the factory the coffee is fully washed and then dried on raised beds, which keeps the cup clean and lets the fruit show.

Roasted medium to light, it drinks bright and complex. Blackberry and kiwi open into ripe mango sweetness, then mint and a clean, white-wine brightness carry the finish. It suits a pour-over or a drip machine at a medium grind, with water just off the boil. The fruit is the point, so do not roast it past it or brew it too hot.

Coffee of the Month is one origin, for one month, and then it is gone. That is not a marketing deadline. When the month ends we move on to a different farm, and this coffee sails.