BUKANDA HILL, Lot 63 - Fully Washed

Migoti Coffee is a Burundian coffee producer based in the Mutambu Commune of Bujumbura Province, Burundi. Founded in 2015 by engineers Pontien Ntunzwenimana and Dan Brose, Migoti Coffee aims to improve the livelihoods of local coffee farmers by connecting them with international buyers and roasters through quality processing and transparent supply chains. The company operates two coffee washing stations in the mountains of Bujumbura Rural Province and works with a growing number of smallholder farmers to produce high-quality coffee.

Founded in 2016, the Ibukikawa cooperative is a collective of 36 members, 250 contributing farmers, and three washing stations located in Bukanda, Ruronge, and Nyamagana. The group is headed by cooperative president Nisubire Ibrahim.

Ibukikawa was formed because the regions of Bukanda, Ruronge, and Nyamagana had no washing stations, so local farmers had to process their crop at home. This often led to inconsistent quality and lower buying prices, or, in some cases, a lack of buyers altogether. Ibukikawa offered a way for farmers to come together, share knowledge, organise their crops, and process them to a higher standard.

The cooperative has three main goals: Improve farmer living conditions via better coffee prices, to increase coffee production through the planting of seedlings, and to use training and education to improve coffee quality. As a longer-term goal, they’d one day like to have their own large-scale estate of coffee trees.

Farmers working with Ibukikawa are supported with high-quality coffee seedlings for planting on their land, bonuses at the end of each season, and generally easier access to the local coffee market. As operations improve, Ibukikawa would like to provide farmers with fertiliser and access to small loans.

This coffee was grown in Bururi Commune of the Mumirwa region, Burundi. 165 members of the Ibukikawa Cooperative contributed to the lot, including lead farmer Nyandwi Evariste.

After harvest, the cherries were processed by Ibukikawa at their Bukanda washing station. Here, cherries were left to ferment for one day, then pulped and washed. Next, the coffee was pre-dried on tables in the shade for five days, before being moved into the sun for full drying on raised beds for three to four weeks.

Bourbon is one of the most culturally and genetically significant varieties of Arabica coffee in the world. This tall variety is characterised by relatively low production and susceptibility to major diseases. However, it produces excellent cup quality when grown at high altitudes.

The first Bourbon plantation dates back to 1715 when the variety was introduced from Yemen to Bourbon Island, now known as La Réunion. Bourbon traces its origins to a broad group of C. arabica specimens that developed naturally and is still cultivated in Central America today.

Depending on the sub-group, Bourbon coffee can produce red, yellow, or orange-coloured cherries. The plant's shoots initially grow upwards at a 45° angle to the stem, and the stems are sturdy. Young leaves are green, and the plants generally have broader leaves and rounder fruit and seeds than Typica and its descendants.

The washed process was designed to minimise the risk of off-flavours caused by uncontrolled fermentation during the natural process. Cherries are typically sorted using a flotation tank, where under-ripe or defective fruits float to the top and can be removed. The remaining cherries are then pulped and left in a tank to ferment until the sticky fruit mucilage is soft enough to be washed off the parchment, a paper-like layer surrounding the seed.

The design and cleanliness of the tanks used for fermentation are crucial, and the type, degree and speed of microbial activity depends on various factors. These include the amount of fruit remaining, the presence of bacteria and yeasts, whether the tank is filled with water, and the environmental conditions.

Once the mucilage has sufficiently degraded, it's washed away with water. The remaining parchment coffee, as it's commonly called, is then dried until it reaches a safe moisture content. The bacteria rich and sugary water used in the process must be treated carefully, as it can cause algae blooms if it enters streams and rivers.

In situations where large amounts of coffee are processed in bulk, such as in Ethiopia, some operations have found it economical to use a mechanical de-mucilager. This device removes all the fruit from the parchment with minimal water, bypassing the fermentation stage entirely. However, some believe this leads to a reduction in cup quality, as many flavour precursors are created through fermentation.