This dry process coffee packs intense sweetness and wild fruits, fermented berry, cider vinegar, red punch, burnt sugars, and boomy cocoa notes underneath. One to sip and take in rather than go at with gusto! City to Full City.
This dry process Kenyan coffee is so unique, fruit forward and winey, even when compared to other dry process cups. We thought it shared a lot in common with the winey qualities of anaerobic coffee, almost acetic in the way the fruits have a fermented edginess. That tracks with the special hybrid process involving both cherry fermentation, and dry process methods. It's an incredibly interesting coffee to taste, and I think will challenge a lot of people's expectations of what coffee can taste like. If you enjoy "wild and wooly" flavors, you just might find a favorite in Burumani! The dry grinds had strong fermented fruit smells, like fermented pineapple juice, Brandy, quite exotic for coffee. The wet aroma had dried prune, berry wine, molasses, and a spiced Rum note. The brew is so intensely sweet, which is needed for the level of wild fruit flavors that come through in the cup. I pick up on burnt sugar and molasses, with chocolate tones pulling at threads of chocolate liqueur, and boomy dark cocoa. Fruit flavors find equal footing, and are particularly pronounced at City and City+ roast levels. Fermented blackberry, peach Schnapps, watermelon hard candy, and red fruit punch cropped up for us, along with a potent cider vinegar note that brought a tangy background tone to the rest. The intensity of fruit and sweetness is like a complex dessert wine in a lot of ways; something to sip and take in, rather than go at with gusto.
The Burumani coffee farm is owned and managed by the Gikonyo family who started planting coffee on this land nearly 70 years ago. The farm initially started out small with just a few hundred SL-28 trees, and like their neighbors, they would sell their whole cherry to nearby mills for regional blends. Then in 2001, a neighboring farm came up for sale and the family saw an opportunity to expand their farm, and eventually process and export Burumani coffee themselves. Through the years, they've gone from growing entirely SL-28 Bourbon types, to grafting Ruiri 11 on SL root stock, to slowly reverting back to the original plantings. They have also moved toward full organic farming methods to grow their coffee, and plans are underway to obtain organic certification next year. What's interesting about this lot, is that it's a hybrid of cherry fermentation and dry process methods. It starts with fermenting whole coffee cherries in plastic bags for upwards of 5 days. Some call this initial stage "anaerobic", though the environment inside the bags is likely aerobic. But it does lead to flavors we associate with anaerobic coffee, like winey fruit flavors, and tangy acetic qualities. After the bag fermentation is complete, the cherries are moved to indoor drying rooms, that are essentially greenhouses that allow sun to shine through the exterior, while also creating a more controlled environment than outdoors.
| Region | Nyeri |
|---|---|
| Processing | Dry Process (Natural), with initial cherry fermentation stage - see Farm Notes |
| Drying Method | Covered Sun-Dried |
| Arrival date | July 2025 Arrival |
| Lot size | 13 |
| Bag size | 60 KG |
| Packaging | GrainPro Liner |
| Farm Gate | Yes |
| Cultivar Detail | SL 28, Ruiru 11 |
| Grade | Looks like 14-17 Screen |
| Appearance | .8 d/300gr, 14-17 Screen - uneven coloring from processing, see photo |
| Roast Recommendations | City to Full CIty |
| Type | Farm Gate |