The Story of Burundi Coffee from Africa's Coffee Region - Brewing Ratios and Flavors of Heart of Africa Coffee Beans

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Burundi Coffee: An Introduction

Burundi, a niche coffee-producing country in Africa. FrontStreet Coffee has consistently featured a coffee from Burundi called "Heart of Africa." Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee discovered that compared to Ethiopian and Kenyan coffee beans, Burundi coffee's acidity lacks the fresh clarity of Ethiopian coffee regions and doesn't have the rich juiciness of Kenyan regions. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce Burundi coffee.

Burundi

Burundi is a member of the East African Community (EAC) and the Great Lakes Region (GLA). Originally known as Urundi, it is located in inland Central Africa. The country is small and possesses beautiful rolling hills, serving as a crossroads between Central and East Africa. It is also the watershed between the great Nile and Congo Rivers, historically earning the title "Heart of Africa." The capital, Bujumbura, is located on the shores of the magnificent Lake Tanganyika, which also forms a natural border between Burundi, Congo, and Tanzania. Burundi has high terrain with significant altitude variations, ranging from 700 meters at its lowest point to 2,670 meters at Mount Heha.

Coffee Cultivation in Burundi

Since 1993, due to civil war devastation, lack of funding, and cultivation techniques, the international market's impression of Burundi coffee has remained that of "inexpensive, average quality" African coffee beans. Additionally, compared to other African coffee-producing countries, Burundi lacks export ports, making inland transportation expensive, production information insufficiently transparent, and export procedures complex, keeping Burundi at the threshold of the specialty coffee market.

Like most coffee from underdeveloped regions, Burundi's coffee flavor is never "fresh and delightful." It cannot bring you the brightness of a spring breeze. FrontStreet Coffee finds Burundi coffee slightly heavy, rich and complex, yet fragrant, sometimes with intense acidity, sometimes with gentle sweetness.

East Africa has long been known for high-quality coffee, and Burundi's land has not been forgotten. This inland African country, with a heart-shaped outline, is also known as the "Heart of Africa." It possesses excellent volcanic soil, varied microclimates, and annual rainfall of nearly 1,200 millimeters—all providing excellent conditions for coffee cultivation. Burundi's climate is typically "tropical" highland climate with significant day-night temperature differences. Colonizers discovered that "Bourbon" was the most suitable coffee variety for local climate conditions. However, due to the cessation of coffee research investment, "Bourbon" became the only coffee variety remaining in the country, and it has consistently used the "fully washed" processing method.

Burundi's geographical environment is highly suitable for coffee cultivation. There are no coffee estates within the country; its coffee cultivation is entirely conducted by small family farms, resulting in significant quality variations. Years of war and social turmoil have also made its coffee cultivation industry quite chaotic. However, it must be acknowledged that this region has the potential to produce high-quality coffee.

Starting in 2008, Burundi began transitioning toward the specialty coffee industry, encouraging more procurement methods like direct trade and traceable origins. In 2011, Burundi hosted a coffee quality competition called the Prestige Cup, which served as a preliminary event before the more formal Cup of Excellence. Coffee beans from various washing stations were stored separately, ranked by quality, and later sold at auctions, all with production and sales records. This means that unique, high-quality coffee beans from Burundi will gradually appear on the market, greatly helping to improve quality.

Five Major Coffee-Producing Regions in Burundi

1. Buyenzi

This region is located in the northern highlands near the Ugandan border and is the premium coffee-producing area of Burundi. The most famous areas are Kayanza and Ngozi, both with elevations between 1,700 and 2,000 meters. The main rainy season begins in March and April, followed by a dry season in July after harvest. The average annual temperature is 18-19°C, with low night temperatures continuing until early morning, which is the main reason for the rich aroma and dense bean structure.

2. Kirundo & Bugesera

Kirundo is close to the Ugandan border. Coffee production in these two regions is relatively low, with elevations between 1,400-1,700 meters. The coffee is influenced by the Kayanza region and gradually moving toward producing specialty batches, with washing stations achieving excellent results in Cup of Excellence competitions.

3. Muyinga & Bweru

These two regions are in the east and northeast, with elevations around 1,800 meters. Muyinga is closer to the Tanzanian border, but its flavor profile is slightly different from Kayanza's due to milder climate conditions, while Kayanza's acidity is brighter and more varied.

4. Gitega & Kirimiro

Located in the central highlands, the average annual temperature is lower, around 12-18°C, with lower annual rainfall of only about 1,100mm, resulting in lower production volumes.

5. Bubanza & Mumirwa

These two regions are located on the borders of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with elevations ranging from 1,100 meters to 2,000 meters. Annual rainfall is only 1,100mm. Low-altitude areas have an average annual temperature of about 20°C, affecting coffee quality. High-altitude areas have the potential to produce specialty coffee, but rainfall distribution and insufficiency affect production in this region.

Burundi Coffee Varieties

Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Réunion Island, locally known as Bourbon Island before 1789. Bourbon is a sub-variety that mutated from Typica, and both belong to the oldest existing coffee varieties. When green fruits mature, they turn bright red. Red Bourbon trees typically show color changes in coffee cherries as: green > slightly yellow > slightly orange > mature red > darker red when fully ripe. Bourbon grown at high altitudes usually has better aroma, brighter acidity, and even exhibits wine-like flavors when tasted.

Burundi Coffee Processing Methods

Burundi's washed processing has two approaches. One involves farmers manually washing and processing the coffee before delivering it to washing stations, called manual washing and marked as "washed." The other involves directly delivering cherries to washing stations for processing, marked as "fully washed."

Manual washing completely uses manual labor to remove skin, pulp, and mucilage. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, producers' distrust of buyers includes distrust of processing stations, leading farmers to believe that processing stations' purchase prices are unfair and that direct cherry transactions don't offer good prices. They prefer to process the coffee themselves to negotiate better prices with processing stations. However, the problem is that farmers mostly rely on manual processing, lack tools, and often work on dusty roadsides, inevitably affecting coffee quality. However, since the privatization of washing stations, the Burundian government encourages delivering to professional processing stations after harvest.

Burundi has also developed a washed processing method similar to Kenya's—double fermentation washed processing. First, harvested cherries are placed in large water tanks, using flotation to select dense fruits. Then machines remove skin and pulp, entering fermentation tanks for about 18 hours. The next day, the fermented cherries are poured into clean water for another 18 hours of fermentation, totaling about 36-48 hours. Afterward, cherries are thoroughly rinsed to remove the softened mucilage layer before entering the drying process. The first drying stage requires shade drying to avoid direct exposure to intense sunlight until moisture content drops below 40%, then moved to drying beds for natural sun-drying until reaching 11% moisture content.

FrontStreet Coffee — Heart of Africa, Burundi

Region: Ruterana Town

Altitude: 1,400 to 1,700 meters

Variety: Bourbon

Processing: Washed processing

Ruterana Town

FrontStreet Coffee's Burundi coffee beans come from Ruterana Town. The Ruterana producing area consists of a cooperative formed by family-like small coffee farmers, with 539 small coffee farming families, including 148 women. Each family grows an average of 10-200 coffee trees (at least 1,000 coffee trees can be planted per hectare), showing their meager annual income and representing typical impoverished coffee farming families.

FrontStreet Coffee Burundi Coffee Bean Roasting Recommendations

When FrontStreet Coffee received the Burundi green coffee beans, they found almost no defective beans, with very uniform size and moisture content. The high-altitude growing environment gives Burundi coffee beans brighter acidity and lemon notes, along with flavors of passion fruit, pineapple, floral notes, and honey.

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster used a Yangjia 800N semi-direct heat roaster, with 480g batch size: Heat to 200°C when beans enter the drum, damper open at 3. After 1 minute of steaming, adjust heat to 160°C with damper unchanged. When drum temperature reaches 160°C, reduce heat to 130°C. Roast to 5'35" at 152°C when beans turn yellow, grass aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete, damper adjusted to 4. At 9 minutes, beans show ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma distinctly changes to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for first crack sounds. At 9'10" first crack begins, small heat unchanged, damper fully open to 5 (heat adjustment must be very careful, not too small to stop crack sounds). At 196.5°C, discharge from drum.

FrontStreet Coffee Burundi Coffee Bean Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use 200ml ceramic bowls for cupping. Cupping water temperature is 94°C. Grind size is controlled to pass 70%-75% through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). Ratio: 11g coffee powder to 200ml hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, so extraction concentration falls within the 1.15%-1.35% Golden Cup range, with 4 minutes infusion time.

Dry Aroma: Citrus

Wet Aroma: Citrus, Plum

Flavor: Plum, Kumquat, Lemon, Dried Fruit, Caramel, Tea Aroma, Light Acidity

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Parameters

FrontStreet Coffee reminds everyone that when you get freshly roasted coffee beans, don't brew them immediately. Let them rest for 3-4 days before brewing, as the coffee's true flavors will emerge during this time.

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Grind Size: BG#6m (Fine sugar size / 80% passing through #20 sieve bowl)

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Dose: 15g

FrontStreet Coffee uses staged extraction, meaning three-pour pouring. 30g water for bloom for 30 seconds, second small water flow circular pour to 125g then stop. Wait for water level to drop, then slowly pour again with even speed, water level should not be too high. Pour to 225g and stop, extraction time 2 minutes (including bloom time).

Brewing Flavor: Aroma of mandarin orange and tea. Entry shows black plum and mandarin orange flavors, rich mouthfeel. Middle to later sections reveal nutty caramel sweetness. The flavor is wild, with strong taste and aroma lingering in the mouth, rich and lasting aftertaste.

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Important Notice :

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