Burundi Buzira-Muruta Washed

Description

New 2018/19 crop – after not being able to source some good Burundi coffees last year we finally found two winning lots. Complex as can be, this is a cup that screams African.

Burundi Buzira-Muruta Fully Washed 15+ Lot 31 is sourced from family-owned farms organized around the Coffee Processing Company (CPC), which was established in 2010 by Salum Ramadhan who was born and raised in the Kayanza province, Burundi. Salum operates four washing stations in Kayanza. All four stations reflect Salum’s passion for coffee and his commitment to his community. Lots are meticulously separated and fully traceable to harvest date and washing station. Each lot is classified through a strict protocol that includes hand sorting and floating the cherry. Depulped coffee undergoes a three-part fermentation process, 16 hours of dry fermentation, then another 14 hours of fermentation with water, and then washed and soaked in fresh water for 10 hours.

Salum pays well above the government minimum for cherry and pays farmers extra to sort cherry. He also encourages the farmers to keep and process unused cherry for personal consumption or to sell in the local market. Salum has a nursery program to distribute seedlings to farmers. He has also been paying to build additional classrooms to alleviate problems with overcrowding in the schools.

Tasting Notes:
Medium bodied and chocolaty with some very bright and citrus acidity upfront, it has some very complex herbal/floral/fruit tones balancing the cup.  If you stick on the lighter side, the acidity almost mimics a nice Ethiopian Sidamo with a little tropical fruit note. One of the first semi-sizzling Africans to arrive so far. These tones can either be hidden by roast level or accentuated. Very clean and a bit on the exotic side.

Roasting Notes:
Good from a city plus to as dark as you want to go. Lighter roasting really gives it snappy acidity and stronger fruit notes. The fruit notes are down the grapefruit or orange area, a little on the tart end, not ferment sweet. The chocolaty side of the cup can be seen at a city plus roast but really gets accentuated towards the full city mark and contains a bit of that classic African herbal tea-like note. Darker roasts get strong and a bit bitter but still retain a lot of flavor depth and exoticism. A very fun cup to play around with the roast level.