Burundi Nemba | #todayimbrewing

Today I’m brewing an interesting coffee from Burundi, roasted in Toronto by the folks at Propeller Coffee. From the Nemba station in the Kayanza Province, these beans were grown on trees at 1818masl and processed naturally. The natural process requires the fruit of the coffee cherry to be left on during fermentation, allowing the sugars of the fruit to infiltrate the bean with a unique sweetness. If this processing talk sounds like another language to you, you can read more about coffee processing here.

I pushed my ratio a bit to try and isolate some of the flavours this coffee has to offer. The freshly brewed coffee smelled like a cherry pie when I aerated it in my Hario Server, and by the time it cooled enough for me to take the first sip those cherries had transformed into your grandmother’s strawberry rhubarb pie. There’s a muted and almost nostalgic note of watermelon while the coffee lingers on your palette. It’s basically summertime in a cup.

The body rounds out nicely, light but also creamy. It feels similar to a coffee that has gone through a lactic fermentation. Perhaps that characteristic in this one comes from the fermentation during the natural process?

I went months (maybe almost a year) without having a coffee from Burundi, and in the last month I’ve had three. Burundi is a country that struggles to maintain the necessary infrastructure to export a great quality product. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for the farmers who call this African nation home, and good things to come from them to our cups!

Brewer: Hario V60
Water: 205° Third Wave Water
Ratio: 1:17
Dose: 18.8g:320g
Total Brew Time: 3:30

Recipe: 
‣ 65g bloom, agitate with gentle swirl
‣ 65g pulse
‣ 65g pulse
‣ 65g pulse
‣ 65g pulse
‣ Swirl and serve

What are you brewing today? Let me know!