Burundi Munkaze

This is our first year buying from the producers of Munkaze Hill and their community's washing station, owned and operated by Ephrem Sebatigita and his family. Like Busambo Station, whose coffee we featured earlier this year, Munkaze Station processes cherry from smallholder farmers in Kayanza, most of whom grow coffee in their gardens and deliver to the station on foot, bicycle, or motorcycle. Cherries are fermented twice — first wet for 12 hours, then dry in cement tanks for another 12 — and finished for 20 to 25 days on raised beds. In the cup we get sweetness-driven fruit flavors of cooked apple and date, with softer acidity and coating brown sugar depth.