Burundi Coffee

This week's Roast is a Burundi.
Burundi? Yes, it's not the most expected country, but one worthwhile to throw a closer look upon.

Dixit Sweet Maria's : "The first arabica coffee tree in Burundi was introduced by the Belgians in the early 1930s and has been growing in the country ever since. Coffee cultivation is an entirely small holder based activity with over 800.000 families directly involved in coffee farming with a total acreage of 60.000 hectares in the whole country with about 25 millions of coffee tree."

And now 2009 the coffee comes (back) to Belgium.
The one we have doesn't have a particular name. They call it a 'fully washed A'. And that's surprising, cause the character in the cup isn't a washed one at all.
It tasted more as a natural one. Bit of a weird under laying earthy/sweaty/dirty taste that resembles of some better natural Rwanda and Ethiopian beans.

It starts with a funky baked fish flagrance. A flavor that brings us back to the smell of a fish stand at the weekly food market a couple of blocks from our bar on Hopland. Christophe (our Malines aficionado) has a great theory for this. The most popular fish at the large Tanganyika lake is the Daga fish. Once on land they use plastic to collect and transport the fish. And this same plastic could have been used in bean processing. A fantasy of course, but it stays a very weird tasting bean.

It's fruity, with most pronounced apricot flagrance. There are deep wooden undertones, light bitterness and a very pleasing acidic finish.
Now we need a couple more days to have a better idea about the espresso capabilities of this Burundi. Can't wait no longer.
I'll keep you posted.

Add on one week later :
Till 5 days after roast the Burundi espresso's were disapointing, but it all changed two days later. As very often this bean fully developed itself only one week after roast.
Nice round and pleasent tasting bean. Some roasted nuts and leather notes, but most of all fantastic crema, feeling very silky on the lips and tongue. Happy.