Stumptown Coffee Roasters Burundi Bwayi
Of the African coffee producing countries Burundi is the one that I believe you are least likely to encounter in your local coffee shop. Kenyan and Ethiopian coffees are commonplace, and in the hands of the right roaster coffees from these countries can be powerful and sublime. Coffees from Rwanda are becoming more common, but whether you come across them depends on what roasters you buy from. Their availability tends to be driven by the harvest season, and it’s less common to find them out-of-season.
But coffees from Burundi remain a rarity. This appears to be the result of two factors. On the one hand, the country’s overall economy is in much worse shape than Rwanda to the north. This in part has led to the second factor, which is the much less developed Burundian coffee industry, relative to other African countries. The combination of these two factors has severely hampered the progress of Burundi’s entry into the specialty coffee market. But, this particular coffee is one of Stumptown’s Direct Trade offerings, and I’ve seen Burundian coffee from Counter Culture as well, which may be an indication that the country’s (coffee) fortune’s may be on the rise.
This particular coffee is from the Kayanza province in Burundi, and was grown at an elevation between 1750-1900 meters. The coffee was produced at the Bwayi washing station, which itself is located close to the Rwandan border. As part of a pilot program in 2007, this washing station was one of four that were given permission by the government to work directly with coffee buyers. The other three were Ngogomo, Teka, and Murambi. Since then, eight more washing stations have been included in this program.
One of the interesting results of Stumptown’s efforts in Rwanda and Burundi was the Bikes To Rwanda program, that has provided hundreds of bicycles to Rwandan coffee farmers. The bikes are specially designed to carry heavy loads, and have helped the farmers ensure that their freshly picked coffee gets to the washing station shortly after picking.
And now, this is the first coffee that Stumptown has sourced as part of their Direct Trade program. The varietals include Bourbon, Jackson, and SL. The coffee is produced similarly to Kenyan coffee, with multiple fermentations. The coffee is also soaked after washing, helping to raise the protein levels and acidity. This has resulted in a very nice cup of coffee, one with substantial body coupled with supple acidity.
The coffee’s nose has wood and earth tones, mingled with spicy roasted red peppers. The palate starts off sweet with lichee nuts and milk chocolate, slowly giving over to flavors of fresh grapes. The body is heavy and velvety, with soft but strong acidity prickling around the edges. The finish is ripe with caramel flavors and a creamy acidity that slowly fades.
This was a nice coffee, but not quite as dynamic as some of the Kenyan or Rwandan coffees I’ve been fortunate enough to try. I look forward to trying other Burundi coffees though, now that more and more specialty roasters are able to get their hands on them. And if the arc of progress is anything like coffee production in Rwanda, we can expect the level of quality to continue to rise.
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