Alice’s Orange Sunshine — Kenya Orange Co-Ferment Filter Coffee

Tasting Notes: Orange Blossom, Candied Orange
Producer: Lot 20 Coffee & Smallholder Farmers
Region: Kericho County, Kenya
Variety: Batian, Ruiru 11
Process: Orange Co-Fermentation
Altitude: 1,800 MASL
Roast: Filter

☀️ Alice Followed the Orange Light

Somewhere beyond the Rift Valley, the sky split open.

Alice stepped through.

On the other side, the trees were dripping with orange blossom, the clouds tasted like candied peel, and the sun had melted into the cup.

Alice’s Orange Sunshine is a wildly expressive Kenyan filter coffee produced by Lot 20 Coffee and smallholder farmers in Kericho County.

It glows with Orange Blossom and Candied Orange — floral at first, then juicy, syrupy and intensely citrusy.

Not orange-ish.
Not orange-adjacent.
Full technicolour orange.

Take a sip. Let the walls breathe a little.

🌿 Down the Rabbit Hole to Kericho

The trail leads to the highlands of Kericho County in western Kenya — a place better known for tea, but where something strange and exciting is happening among the coffee trees.

Lot 20 Coffee was founded by Sidney Kibet to help smallholder farmers step outside Kenya’s conventional coffee system and gain more control over how their coffee is processed, sold and valued.

They work with farmers across the South Rift, combining local knowledge with experimental fermentation, unusual processing techniques and a healthy refusal to accept that Kenyan coffee must always follow the same path.

At 1,800 metres above sea level, Batian and Ruiru 11 cherries ripen slowly in the cooler mountain air, developing the sweetness and bright acidity that form the backbone of this cup.

Then Lot 20 opens another door.

🍊 Process: The Orange Portal

Fresh coffee cherries enter the fermentation tanks alongside locally sourced oranges.

The fruit is purchased from the same farming communities that supply the coffee, creating another source of income for growers and adding a new dimension to the fermentation.

Inside the tank, coffee and orange begin to shift, change and speak in strange citrus tongues.

The orange isn’t sprayed onto the roasted coffee, and it isn’t an artificial flavouring. The flavour develops at origin as the coffee cherries and oranges ferment together.

The process takes the natural brightness of Kenyan coffee and bends it through a citrus prism — transforming sharp acidity into orange blossom, candied peel and syrupy sweetness.

The result is floral, juicy and slightly unreal.

Like drinking sunlight through a kaleidoscope.

💡 Brew the Sunshine

Roasted for filter brewing.

Try it through a V60, Kalita Wave, Chemex or AeroPress. Give it a generous bloom, pour slowly and let the coffee cool before disappearing completely down the rabbit hole.

As the temperature drops, the cup opens wider — first orange blossom, then sweet citrus, then a long candied-orange finish that seems to hang in the air.

🚀 Why You’ll Love It

• Experimental orange co-fermented coffee from Kenya
• Produced by Lot 20 Coffee and smallholder farmers
• Batian and Ruiru 11 grown at approximately 1,800 MASL
• Explosive notes of Orange Blossom and Candied Orange
• Floral, juicy, syrupy and gloriously citrus-soaked
• Roasted for filter by Groundstate Coffee Roasters in Dublin
• Free shipping in Ireland on orders over €35

The sunshine is orange.
The rabbit hole is open.
Alice has already gone through.