Kigeri

Our second Burundian coffee of the year, hailing again from the Izuba washing station in Kayanza. Growers on the Kigeri colline nearby are producing and delivering their coffee cherries for centralised processing, resulting in a bright cup with cooked fruit flavours and complex orchid type florals.

The Producers

Various communities in and around the Kabarore commune in the north of Burundi are those growing the coffee cherries that are centrally processed at the Izuba washing station. Different locales based around particular hills or collines are kept separate during processing, and this particular lot we have bought comes from the Kigeri hillside. Growers here receive two payments for their coffee cherries, the first upon delivery to the station and the second after harvest having sold the coffee with a quality premium. 

Smallhold coffee growers are responsible for 80% of coffee produced globally, yet can often be the most disenfranchised and least rewarded for their work. By choosing to partner with a station like Izuba, which is owned and operated by Raw Material (a social enterprise committed to increasing farmer prosperity) the several hundred growers who contributed to this lot benefit socially and economically. All the contributing families receive health insurance, a scheme put in place after interviewing with the local community to determine what they desired most from the partnership. They are also repurposing spent coffee pulp which is broken down into a natural fertiliser for the farmers to take and spread around their trees. 

The Washing Station

The contributing smallhold members deliver their harvested coffee cherries to the Izuba wet mill, whereupon they are weighed on arrival. The price paid for ripe cherry is higher, but the station still pays for unripe and damaged cherries, which are processed separately. Ntama Appoolinarire is the station manager, who is working alongside Prosper Merrimee, Raw Material’s operational manager in Burundi. Various processing techniques are employed at the station to create a diverse portfolio of flavour profiles and extend their marketability. By maximising quality at every stage the goal is to increase the value of their outturns, in turn increasing profitability for the growers. 

This particular selection of Red Bourbon was initially hand sorted and floated before being depulped and wet fermented for 12 hours. During this time it was agitated and mixed around to break down the coffee’s mucilage layers, before being fully washed and rinsed in long grading channels, which sorts the coffee by density. Before being put to sun dry the coffee goes under shade to be hand sorted during skin drying to further refine the coffee visually. It takes about 20 days to dry down to a stable moisture content, depending on the climate.