African

Burundi Ndava

Burundi Ndava

This is one of the first arrivals of 2015-2016 Burundi crop, and there will be more to come.  The beans are size A and come from the Ndava village at 4000+ feet altitude. They are packed in a Grain-Pro bag to maintain freshness.  They are processed at the Ikawa Nziza mill.  Several quality coffees from around this area are processed at this washing station, which roughly translates in English as "Coffee Beautiful"  The Ndava commune has benefited greatly by the efforts of the mill to reach a global market for their wonderful coffee. 

This is a washed process coffee, as are most Burundi beans, and it is a versatile bean.  Most Burundi beans we run across have really high acidity with a caramel and lime undertone, and frankly it's a little hard to drink very much of it even while realizing that it is a high quality coffee.   We like to find Burundi coffees that are easier to drink -- something with some stone fruit or berries in the taste with a lot of sweetness and some smoothness to it.  So with that said, we are excited about this Burundi!

If you roast this just to the 2nd cracks and let it out, you get a coffee with caramel and black cherry and sweetness.  Medium body, pleasant acidity, a brown sugar sort of sweet.  Great mug of Burundi.  Take it 45 seconds into the 2nd cracks (or even a little darker) and you get a remarkable French Roast with great sweetness and smoothness.  Very slight undertones of cherry despite the darkness of the coffee.   We don't drink a lot of French roast around here, but this one is worth drinking.  Better yet, throw it in the espresso machine and get a sweet caramel shot of espresso with all kinds of complexity and mild fruit.  Do keep an eye on it though -- it's only an A sized bean (not AA) and will hit French roast level a little bit sooner than some coffees. 

October 2015 arrival in USA.

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