Ripe cherries are delivered to the wetmill for careful sorting and floatation, to select only the densest, highest quality cherries. The cherries are then pulped followed by fermentation for around 12 hours, depending on the climatic conditions. Once the mucilage has been broken down sufficiently the parchment coffee is thoroughly washed in clean water channels and graded further by bean density.

After washing, the coffee is dried in the sun on raised African beds for around 14 days, again depending on conditions, until the ideal moisture level has been reached. In the daytime the parchment needs to be raked and turned periodically to ensure a consistent drying process and prevent mould or overfermentation. The coffee is also covered in the middle of the day to protect it from the heat and UV of the sun, and at night time to protect it from rainfall and moisture.

Once the coffee has dried sufficiently it is transported to the Ikawa Nziza drymill for grading, sorting and handpicking, before being bagged in GrainPro for export. Ikawa Nziza was started in 2014 in partnership with Schluter at an altitude of 1,750masl to serve as a milling facility for high quality microlot coffees and ensure traceability.

The Producers

Built in 1972, Butegana CWS was the first of its kind in Burundi. It collects the cherries from around 2000 farmers located on the neighbouring hills. Butegana has been UTZ Certified since 2012. Kayanza has a reputation for being one of the best coffee pruducing regions in Burundi, due to its rich fertile soil, high altitude and plentiful rainfall. The region also accomodates a number of tea plantations and it is famous for being the water source of the Nile River.