Burundi is a relatively small (about the size of our home state of MD), country in the African Great Lakes region, just south of the equator. Coffee provides a significant amount of economic opportunity for the people of Burundi - it is the largest export crop in a country where about 90 percent of the workforce is in agriculture, which is pretty much exclusively done on small-holder farms. The geography of the country lends itself well to coffee production, with high elevations providing the ideal growing conditions for growing more complex and nutrient dense coffees. This particular lot comes from the eastern province of Cankuzo, which has been largely untouched by the decades-long civil war and internal conflicts seen in the more populated central and western regions. This coffee is particularly special in that it was sourced from a group of mostly women producers, led by women. This is rare in the coffee industry in general - despite performing an estimated 70% of the labor, the International Coffee Organization estimates that women are only 20% of the household heads or landowners in coffee-producing families. JNP, the importer of this coffee, has been active in trying to rectify this disparity, paying these women producers directly for their work, and offering economic and educational opportunities in a country where women lack full property ownership rights or equal access to education. We’re happy to showcase the underappreciated work of women in coffee with this offering, and excited about the quality: Pleasantly smooth, this coffee has a mild baked apple acidity with a warm caramel and fresh bread aroma, a maple and brown sugar sweetness, the silky bittersweetness of a fine dark chocolate, with a buttery mouthfeel and medium body in the cup.
How to Brew It:
This coffee should perform well on all brewing methods. We recommend using a coffee to water ratio of 1:15, with a brew temperature of 197-203 degrees.
