How to Properly Drink Sun-Dried Burundi Coffee & Burundi Coffee Bean Prices

Burundi Kayanza Kabuye Natural

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
State: Roasted coffee beans
Origin: Burundi
Roast Level: Medium roast

Country: Burundi
Elevation: 1,750 meters
Region: Kayanza Kabuye
Roast Level: Medium roast
Processing Method: Natural

For pour-over brewing of this Burundi coffee: use 15 g of grounds, medium grind (4 on a Fuji conical burr grinder), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30 g of water and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Continue pouring to 105 g, then pause. Wait until the water level drops halfway down the coffee bed, then slowly pour on to 225 g total. Avoid the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

Burundi lies just south of the equator in east-central Africa. It borders Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west, with Lake Tanganyika to the southwest. The country is made up mainly of plateaus and mountains, largely formed by the eastern plateau of the Great Rift Valley, with a nationwide average elevation of 1,600 meters — earning it the name "Mountain Country." Its western side runs along the famous Lake Tanganyika, and its capital is Bujumbura. The western lakeside valleys and the eastern regions have a tropical savanna climate, while the central and western parts have a tropical highland climate. The average annual temperature is 20-24°C, reaching as high as 33°C. March to May is the main rainy season, October to December the short rainy season, and the remaining months the dry season.

Burundi coffee bears a striking resemblance to that of its neighbor Rwanda, and coffees from the two nations are often confused. Burundi's cultivation is dominated by Bourbon varieties, using traditional wet processing for the cherries. Its specialty coffee is characterized above all by elegant sweetness and bright citrus aromatics. This particular batch is a Bourbon micro-lot.

Variety: Bourbon
Processing Station: Panga Processing Station
Flavor Notes: Grape skin, orange wine, fermented fruits

This batch is a natural-processed Bourbon micro-lot from the Panga Processing Station in Kabuye, Kayanza Province, set at Maldati Peak. The elevation here is very high, with mountainous areas exceeding 2,000 meters. The fertile, gravelly soil is excellent for coffee, and the station is recognized as Burundi's best.

Burundi has one of the world's most diverse and successful coffee industries, with a character all its own. Coffee was introduced by Belgian colonists in 1930 and is now grown only on small farms. Unfortunately many of these farms lie in areas bordering the conflict-prone Rwanda, which puts pressure on production. Almost all coffee produced in Burundi is Arabica, with coffee trees in Ngozi planted above 1,200 meters. Burundi coffee is aromatic and rich with excellent acidity, and most exports go to the United States, Germany, Finland and Japan.

Flavor Profile: The flavor description reveals rich aromas of raisins, blackberry jam and ripe peaches. Up front are sweet notes of cranberry, citrus and peach juice, while rich caramel and orange-marmalade sweetness fill the entire cup. The fermented, wine-like aroma from natural processing is prominent too, reminiscent of orange wine or peach — truly a distinctive Burundi specialty coffee.

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) is produced from Arabica trees of the Bourbon cultivar. It was first cultivated on Réunion, known as Île Bourbon before 1789. It was later carried by France to connect with both the African continent and Latin America, and today it is one of the two most widely grown Arabica families in the world. Bourbon is typically grown at elevations between 3,500 and 6,500 feet (1,062-1,972 meters).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Burundi's elegant sweetness and bright citrus echo the best of East African coffee, and FrontStreet's hand-pour lineup covers that same territory well. FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gudingding shows citrus and lemon notes with elegant white flowers and a clean, luminous acidity. FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui is a natural-process star, full of tropical strawberry, passion fruit and lychee, very sweet with almost no bitterness and a juicy body. And FrontStreet Kenya Little Tomato — a washed lot from the Sika region at 1,550-1,750 meters, SL28 and SL34, 72-hour double washed fermentation and lightly roasted — delivers vivid cherry-tomato and smoked-plum notes, bright, solid acidity, mid-palate sweetness and a long, clean finish with yellow-sugar sweetness and a hint of green tea. All three are excellent choices for a V60 at a 1:15 ratio.