Thompson brought back some extensive video from his recent trips to Rwanda and Burundi.
“Usually I combine the trip to neighbors RwandaA Bourbon cultivar variant from Rwanda and Burundi. Bourbon coffees are named for the island in the India Ocean where French colonists grew it. Some history from the... and BurundiBurundi coffee bears resemblance to neighboring Rwanda, in both cup character, but also the culture surrounding coffee. Burundi is a small landlocked country at the crossroads of East... since their harvest seasons line up. In fact I usually just cross the border in the South of Rwanda on foot, and meet up with out Burundi partners in the northern district of Kayanza.
These videos aren’t fancy, but they are also a way I take notes (besides actually taking notes, which I do… a lot!) Makes sense to share my notes and what I see and learn along the way”
Rwanda Coffee Processing at Gitesi Washing Station
Burundi Dry Process (Natural) Coffee
Tom comments on dry processDry process coffee is a method for taking the fruit from the tree to an exportable green bean. The whole intact coffee cherry is dried in the sun... coffee as he takes a look at coffee cherries drying on raised bedsRaised beds, also referred to as "african-style beds" are elevated beds used for drying coffee when dry-processing.: Raised beds, also referred to as "african-style beds" are elevated beds... in Burundi (not EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from...).
Burundi Wet Processing Practices
Here’s a look at wet processed coffee in Burundi….and some shots of the work performed in the coffee millA coffee mill might mean a coffee grinder, but we usually use the term to refer to a coffee processing facility, either a Wet-Mill or a Dry Mill..... When we focus on things like technique and equipment in a mill, I think we forget that it’s the human labor that is truly the determining factor in quality. Hopefully that aspect receives proper attention in the video:
