Burundi Honey Process Masha

Masha Station is a coffee cherry collection site located in Gatara Commune, Kayanza, Burundi's northern province that borders neighboring Rwanda. The washing station acts as a central delivery site for a few thousand small holder famers who occupy the hills surrounding Masha. The name comes from the Kirundi word "amasho" that means "herds of cattle". That makes sense seeing that cattle herding just might rival coffee farming in the Masha region! Farmers grow mostly older bourbon types, the original coffee cultivar introduced to the area in the 1930s by Catholic monks traveling from the island of Reunion. Masha coffee washing station ("CWS") sits at just under 1700 meters above sea level, and many of the farmers have coffee planted much higher than this. They've been around since 1989, and in 2012 won top placement in Burundi Cup of Excellence competition, no small task. This is a honey process lot, but the look of the green and bright cup flavors might lead you to think otherwise! Masha roasts easily, very little roast color variance as you move from yellowing, to browning, and onto first crack. It helps that the sort is so good, with little to no trace of underripe coffee in the few hundred grams of coffee that we roasted.