Featured Coffees: Directly from the Farmer

86+ Find: Kinyovu Washing Station (Burundi) Matango Microlot. NEW ARRIVAL!

Origin	Burundi
Region	Kayanza State
Farm / Coop	Kinyovu Washing Station, in Matongo Community
Altitude	1,880 meters (5,828 feet)
Varietals	100% Bourbon
Processing	Fully washed
Certifications	IWCA Burundi. Women-grown certified
Cupping Notes	Score: 87.0 Notes: AROMA/FLAVOR: Brown Sugar, Dark Chocolate, fruity, herbal, Umami, vanilla, Marzapan, fruit cake. ACIDITY: brilliant complex, mostly tangerine citric with hints of phosphoric (the acidity in Coke) . OTHER: Multi-dimensional, creamy and long-lasting aftertaste. Improves as it cools.

This coffee was a first-place winner of the coveted Cup of Excellence in 2013. Processed through one of Burundi’s few double fermentation washing stations, Kinyovu coffee cherries are cultivated by women coffee farmers in a high-altitude micro climate, grown among tea, bananas, beans and cassava plants. Through a partnership with a nonprofit organization of women and men in the coffee industry, these farmers receive training on best practices for quality coffee production, from caring for the trees to careful sorting of the ripened cherries during harvest. JNP Coffee pays women farmers a share of the premium for their high-quality coffee earns in the global market. These payments enable new economic opportunities and provide a better quality of life for their families, especially their children.

In 2017, 1,146 farmers under the IWCA Burundi’s program brought cherries at Kinyovu washing station, 1,057 were women and 89 men (also allowed to be part of the program). Thus, 92% of he farmers at Kinyovu are women. The washing station is part of the 21 washing stations under the Sogestal Kayanza umbrella, which is majority owned by private individuals (including Jeanine) with a small percentage remaining under the government ownership (planned to be privatized in the future). Each washing station has an independent general manager and an independent quality manager. The average yearly production of Specialty coffee from Kinyovu is 60,000 kilograms (about three containers) of green export coffee.

Nelson had the pleasure of meeting some of the Kinyovu/Matongo farmers when he was a judge at the first-ever Burundi Cup of Excellence competition in 2012.