Burundi Kayanza Munkaze - Nucleus Coffee Lab

Ephrem Sebatigita has over 35 years' experience in the specialty coffee industry as a producer, consultant, mechanical engineer and instructor. Coffee is a family tradition, since his paternal grandfather, Ntirandekura, was one of Burundi's first coffee promoters in the 1930s. This batch of red bourbon bears witness to his experience and expertise through its uniformity, quality and smoothness.

The Munkaze washing station is located in the natural region of Buyenzi, in the Kayanza province, close to the Kibira forest. Each year, Ephrem expands its plantation by 500 feet with new plantings. In addition to its own cherries, the station collects cherries from 500 smallholders in the surrounding hills. The lots are generally separated by the different hills where the growers are located, and some separated by single growers.

This year, Ephrem is offering us several batches, including this one, #45, from one of his farm's hills, located at an altitude of 1889 meters. The batch is washed after a unique 12-hour fermentation process. It is then dried on drying beds for 15 hours. This process is quite common in Burundi, since the country only produces red Bourbon, and this variety generally produces a fairly mild, balanced coffee with a light fermentation and complete washing.