We are proud to report that on The Coffee Review, this coffee earned the third-highest rating in a cupping of African Great Lakes coffees for Coffee Review’s June 2021 report. Moreover it earned the distinct motion for a successful dark toast: "Most coffees we test over the course of a year are light-medium to medium in roast, reflecting each individual roaster’s personally calibrated goal of fully developing the character of the bean while leaving behind neither a distracting scorchy edge nor the grassy, nutty hints of an underdeveloped roast. This month, however, we review one successful darker roast, the Valverde Burundi Kinyovu (92; sweetly roast-toned, roundly pungent and chocolaty).
The Coffee Review Notes: This coffee earned a third-highest rating in a cupping of African Great Lakes coffees for Coffee Review’s June 2021 report. Produced by smallholding women farmers near the Kinyovu Washing Station entirely from local strains of the Bourbon variety of Arabica, and processed by the washed method (fruit skin and flesh are removed from the beans before they are dried). Valverde Coffee Roasters is a specialty roaster with locations in Salisbury, Massachusetts and La Paz, Bolivia.
The Coffee Review Bottom Line: An inviting darker-roasted Burundi with deep, rich chocolate notes throughout, complicated by sweet florals, dried fruit, and a pleasingly smoky cedar.