Description
New 2020/21 crop! A wonderful feel good and tasty coffee.
Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, the founder of JNP Coffees, is without a doubt one of the most influential individuals in Burundi coffee today. Raised in Bujumbura, Jeanine would go on to earn an MBA from Northwestern University’s prestigious Kellogg School, cycle through corporate America, and eventually reconnect with her birth country by founding Burundi Friends International, a not-for-profit that funds educational and economic empowerment programs for rural Burundians, which is now in its 13th year.
After a few years marketing Burundi coffees stateside for friends and family, Jeanine realized she had every reason to lead the business, and JNP Coffee was born. JNP Coffee is highly focused on women’s empowerment, and along with a few local women’s rights advocates, formulated the Burundi chapter of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance. The network of IWCA farmer members in Burundi is now more than 2,000, whose coffee is differentiated by membership, marketed for its traceability and impact, and which generates end-of-year premiums for all involved.
Tasting Notes: A wonderful not over the top fruity natural! Lighter roasts are where this cup will shine. Hints of winy and lemony acidity comingle with tart red fruit tones, almost like an sweet red apple skin and balance with a bit of a chocolaty undertone. Not much for the traditionally African herbal spice in the cup but you may find hints in the aftertaste. Medium roasts get much more chocolaty and smooth, retains the red fruit tone nicely, a very easy to drink cup. Darker roasts pick up some stronger roasty tones, compliments the more chocolaty aspects of the cup, especially as it cools, the fruitiness will jump right out even at darker roast points.
Roasting Notes: Even roasting for a fruity natural but does have some decent chaff on the beans. A slight reduction in batch size will help keep it an easy to roast coffee. Clean cup at almost every roast point but we found it best on the edge of light to medium roasts.
Coffee grown in Ngozi Province has a special meaning for Jeanine, as that is where her mother grew up. Memories of her mother, leading the family’s coffee harvest to cover school fees, are woven into the name for this coffee. Bavyeyi in Kirundi translates to “parents,’’ a name given to honor the generations of hardworking parents, like Jeanine’s, whose labor in coffee (something many farming families either do not consume or cannot afford to consume) provides shelter, nourishment, and educational opportunities to their children. The producer group is women-owned and works closely with JNP Coffee’s trained Q Graders in Burundi on best quality practices and lot curation. Indeed, this coffee itself is comprised of five unique processing lots from different days throughout harvest.
Drying naturals in the high and cool Ngozi climate is a painstakingly slow process, often taking 45 to 60 days to complete, during which the coffee is continuously circulated for even air exposure. Despite having one of the longest drying periods in the world, the cup profile is noticeably mild in process, expressing a piqued raisin sweetness, rich almond paste, and brisk orange acidity.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.