Burundi Kayanza

PROCESS: Washed
VARIETY: Bourbon
ELEVATION: 1,600-1,900 meters
ROAST: Medium
BODY: Average
NOTES: Raisin, fresh red grape, intense caramel, and burnt sugar flavors with tangy tartaric acidity and intense syrupy sweetness.

The Rubagabaga Washing Station is located in the Kayanza region of Burundi and is named after the hill it sits on. Many producers from around the region contribute to this washing station. Much of Rubagabaga’s fame and reputation comes from an abundance of banana trees in the region. The locals make use of “umubaga” which is the first juice squeezed out of the banana to brew beer, one of the many homemade brews the country so fondly makes.

Burundi microlots are selected out of the daylots created by various centralized washing stations, basis cup quality. Because the average farmer in Burundi owns 1/8–1/4 a hectare of land, many smallholder farmers will deliver their fresh cherry to a washing station in order to be sorted and processed; microlots, then, are blended lots comprising coffees from many producers that express exquisite coffee, but are not traceable to the individual producers.

Washed coffees in Burundi are typically depulped the same day they're harvested and delivered, and fermented underwater for 12–24 hours before being washed for about two hours. Then the coffees are spread on drying tables or raised beds, where they dry for about 20 days, depending on the weather.