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Unwired Coffee
A collaboration between Thou Mayest and Blue Valley Caps
Medium-Dark Roast
Single Origin - medium roast with sweet and savory notes and a thick, rich body.
This single origin peaberry is from the Kirinyaga region of Kenya. A dense, high altitude coffee with tropical notes and a thick mouthfeel.
The "Coffee Belt" is the geographic region between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn where coffee beans are primarily grown. Because of tropical growing conditions, rich volcanic soils, and heavy rainfall, the beans from this area of the globe are prized for their sweet, complex flavor, lively acidity, and thick, velvety body. It is a distinct terroir that many call classic Kenyan flavor.
This coffee comes from the Kirinyaga County, one of the most fertile growing regions of Kenya.
A peaberry coffee bean results from a coffee cherry (fruit) producing just one relatively round, football-shaped seed (bean), as opposed to the usual two half-beans which are roundish on one side and flat on the other side.
John & Kyeni: Navigating Autism's Global Challenges
Let us introduce you to John Ngui and his son, Auri Kyeni Ngui. Kyeni was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. John has made it his personal mission to better understand autism and discover ways to help his son navigate the world. Having visited both urban communities and rural villages throughout Kenya, he has witnessed the challenges faced by special needs children. These obstacles in developing countries are vastly different from those encountered by similarly challenged children in the United States. John's goal is for Kyeni to serve as a beacon of ability and hope for many individuals living with autism in the developing world.
"According to medical research, stimulants are believed to work by increasing dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with motivation, pleasure, attention, and movement. For many people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stimulant medications boost concentration and focus while reducing hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. The quest for Kenyan coffee in Kansas City allowed me to rediscover coffee in a new way—as a natural, non-prescriptive remedy for his hyperactivity, all based on that nugget of science. Kyeni no longer takes any medication for hyperactivity or impulsive behavior. I wonder why coffee has always been my peaceful and relaxing retreat."
Read more about John and Kyeni's coffee journey by clicking the button below.
Coffee Cherries and Kyeni's Smile
During a visit to his grandfather's Kenyan farm a few years ago, Kyeni had a transformative encounter with coffee cherries. Eager to explore the farm with his Umau ("grandpa" in their tribal language Kikamba), Kyeni's rare verbal expression of his desire was a significant moment for both. Despite initially showing little interest in the cattle, his attention was captivated by the sight of rows of coffee plants heavy with bright red cherries. His eyes lit up with a radiant smile, a rare sight known as "that smile" by those close to him. Impulsively, he grabbed handfuls of cherries and tasted them, marking his first experience with the coffee cherry. This moment sparked a profound journey of metamorphosis for Kyeni, akin to the complex transformation of the cherries into the rich, aromatic beverage he would later come to love.
Coffee, Confidence, and Kyeni
Two of Kyeni’s teachers noticed Kyeni’s interest in culinary work and offered Kyeni a coffee job at school. John was elated by the opportunity for him to showcase his skills while serving others, and so was he. Each time Kyeni has completed a coffee shift at school, he comes home with a cheerful demeanor and an attitude of confidence. He adds a little extra pep in his step on those days.
"Kyeni’s mind is puzzlingly complex. How he navigates through life reminds me of the involved process of developing an immensely desirable flavor from a single coffee cherry. He is sometimes the bright red cherry packed with enormous potential; all wrapped up in Autistic membrane and pulp. At times he is the unnoticed-skinned green coffee bean. At times he is the bean undergoing the tenuous drying process; other times, he is browning, roasting, grounding, and brewing. All require varying levels of one indispensable variant: heat. Heat, for those close to him, is also known as the necessary tenacity and patience to endure the process of identifying and developing Kyeni’s potential. It’s the only way to get unwired by his carefully cupped blend of the atypically typical spectrum of his mental brews. It’s affirmation when I doubt that even though Kyeni’s life experiences are sometimes tenuous, it’s a photosynthetic process to nurture his disability to ability. The ability that will positively change others like him now and in the future."
-John Ngui
