Burundi Kibingo Natural

Where in the world?

What’s the story?

Holy moly, come and jump on this wild ride of a coffee! Super sweet and fruity at the start, with huge fun slabs of juicy fruit flavour notes that we had somewhere between scrumpy and apple brandy. There is a rich fudgy sweetness that reminds us of panela sugar, and then a super delicious long finish like one of those bars of dark chocolate and raspberry.

Through various trials in processing the coffee at Kibingo, the especially developed Oro yeast was found to bring out more red fruit flavours, increasing mouthfeel and body. The resulting cup is a fabulous harmony of mouthwatering juicy fruit acidity complimented by super satisfying brown sugar sweetness.
This triumph of a coffee is from the Kibingo washing station, in the Northern region of Kayanza Kibingo serves 3,515 registered coffee growers, spread over 18 hills in the area. The washing station is run by the excellent Greenco specialty coffee producing and exporting company.

To help farmers maximise the value of their coffee, Greenco have been experimenting with adding different yeasts designed to amplify different characteristics of the coffee from Kibingo. This does not artificially add flavour but rather supercharges fermentation that creates flavonoids naturally present in the coffee.
Coffee cherries are placed in containers and Oro yeast purchased from the French company Lalcafe is added. The cherry is left to ferment in this environment for approximately 36 hours.
After fermentation, cherry is carried to the drying tables, where they will dry slowly for 2-3 weeks, during which time the cherry is repeatedly sorted and sifted to ensure even drying. Cherry is left to dry from sunrise to sunset and is covered with a sheet during the evening or when it rains. The moisture level is carefully monitored and any cherry with visual defects is removed. Once dry, coffee is then bagged and taken to the warehouse. Greenco’s team of expert cuppers assess every lot (which are separated by station, day and quality) at the lab. The traceability of the station, day and quality is maintained throughout the entire process.

All producers registered at a Greenco washing station are organised in groups of 30 people, headed by a farm leader. This leader acts as a spokesman to facilitate communication and organisation with the washing station.

The washing station is equipped with 10 fermentation tanks, 2 soaking tanks and a drying field with 165 drying tables and 4 pre-drying tables. Kibingo can process 750,000 kg of cherry per day.
At the washing station, farmers can obtain organic fertiliser from composted coffee pulp. To promote farm renovation, producers can get low-cost, subsidised coffee seedlings at the washing station. Each station has its own nursery for this purpose. The washing station participates in a number of farmer outreach and support projects including a livestock rearing project and a range of Farmer Hub projects centred on strengthening cooperatives and improving yields.

Despite the ubiquity of coffee growing in Burundi, each smallholder produces a relatively small harvest. The average smallholder has approximately 250 trees, normally in their backyards. Each tree yields an average of 1.5 kilos of cherry so the average producer sells about 200-300 kilos of cherry annually.
During the harvest season, all coffee is selectively hand-picked. Most families only have 200 to 250 trees, and harvesting is done almost entirely by the family.

Brewing Recipe