Green Coffee Offerings : Africa : Burundi |
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View Our Current Burundi Coffees |
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About Burundi's Coffee
The first arabica coffee tree in Burundi was introduced by the Belgians in the early 1930s and has been growing in the country ever since. Coffee cultivation is an entirely small holder based activity with over 800.000 families directly involved in coffee farming with a total acreage of 60.000 hectares in the whole country with about 25 millions of coffee tree. Burundi's coffee, like Rwanda's, is primarily Bourbon varietal, grown at high altitudes ranging from 1250 to 2000 MASL. Like Rwanda, coffee is planted by smallholder farmers; each farmer is tending abount 50 to 250 trees. Historically, the coffee was sold as bulked "Ngoma Mild" coffee (an Ngoma is a traditional drum). The farmers bring coffee to washing stations (wet-mills) and theses are organized into "SOGESTAL" management groups, each with about 30 stations in them. Coffee has been sold only by mixing all the stations in the SOGESTAL into one big lot, so spearating qualities was not possible. Several years ago, the coffee market was "liberalized" which means that individual washing stations can keep the coffee separate, and it can be marketed to buyers by station, and by "day lots", the harvest for a short period of time. With this comes the new possibility to find the gems of Burundi coffee that were formerly mixed in with the not-so-good lots. So new possibilities are emerging in Burundi, and it is a coffee to watch! - Tom |
Our Burundi Coffee Offerings:
Please refer to our Reference Page for definitions of terms and cupping numbers used below. Check out the Sweet Maria's Coffee Home Roasting Forum for more conversation about home roasting this and other coffees.
| $6.15 | $11.69 | $26.75 | $51.05 | $94.71 |
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Burundi coffees were typically sold in large lots, using the fanciful trade term Ngoma mild to describe their arabica coffee. (An Ngoma is a traditional drum). The coffee areas are divided in a Sogestal, an acronym too long to write out here, with each Sogestal managing about 30 washing stations (wet mill processing centers for coffee cherry). Typically, they mixed the lots from all the washing stations and sold it in bulk. But here we offer a lot from one washing station, Bwayi, and one Micro Lot from Bwayi, Number 7. The dry fragrance has a pleasant mix of vanilla and hints of caramelized sugar, traces of lemon and sweet floral elements. It's subdued, but attractive. The wet aroma is all about sweet lemon blossom, and golden honey (a refined honey sweetness). The cup is restrained, not outlandish. Balanced body, brightness, and sweet/bittersweet flavors are the main attraction here ... and in that way it has very "Bourbon" character, true to the varietal. We found that out with Bwayi micro lot from last year, and this year too, so it seems to be a consistent "Bwayi" origin character. This is by far the best Burundi we have had (not saying much, since so few quality Burundi coffees have been available). There is a sweet citrus flavor, Meyer lemon, not tart, very delicate and sweet. Speaking of sweet, it has a refined sugar sweetness, exceptionally clean and articulate. Subtle cinnamon spice accents the cup, with raisin and plum sweetness tucked into the roast tastes. The body is exceptionally creamy, particularly with a full 2 day rest after roasting. The cup is by far at its peak in the lighter roast range. I recommend City to City+ with a good 2 day rest. It's a bright espresso, but remarkably nuanced too, at FC roast. By the way, this exact lot is available in roasted form from Stumptown.
This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.
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Archived Reviews
To view reviews for out of stock coffees, visit our Burundi Coffee Archives.
2005-2006 | 2004 -2003 | 2001-2002 | Pre-2000 Tom's Sample Cupping Log | Moisture Content Readings This page is authored
by Thompson Owen and Sweet Maria's Coffee, Inc. and is not to be
copied or reproduced without permission
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