Crown Jewel Burundi Gashoho Bavyeyi Raised Bed Natural CJ1519 – LOT 20 – 29798 – SPOT RCWHSE

Position Spot

Boxes 0

Warehouses Oakland

Flavor Profile Lime, orange juice, cider, juicy, smooth

Out of stock

Overview 

This is a raised-bed-dried natural coffee from Muyinga, Burundi, produced by members of the Bavyeyi community organized around JNP Coffee. 

The flavor profile showcases a range of candied and jellied fruits – we noted strawberry, mango, cherry, raspberry, and plum, as well as notes of caramel and some rose-like floral flavors. 

Our roasters encourage a gentle charge and extended Maillard phase to bring out the best in this lower-density natural process coffee. 

When brewed our baristas favored a finer grind and flat-bottomed pour-over, and enjoyed a longer extraction time when pulled as shots of espresso. 

Taste Analysis by Chris Kornman 

An aromatic explosion and incredibly flavorful offering, this delicious offering from the Bavyeyi producer group in Burundi shows off some of the best we’ve seen in natural coffee production in the country. Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian’s oversight, sampling protocols, and processing improvements have yielded incredible results, and we’re abundantly thrilled with this small selection in particular. 

The coffee’s sweet fruit notes are evident from the beginning of the experience, both fragrant green and a burst of aroma in the cup. A standout on our sample roast cupping tables, our initial impressions were that of a mild natural with tamed fruit flavor like plum, sweet blackberry, and a bit of apple and eucalyptus-like florality. Trial and production roasts opened up a wide range of flavor possibilities with hints of lemon zest, mint-like sweet herbal tones, and a range of cooked, candied, and jellied fruits like strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and kiwi. 

The coffee’s dynamic range is evident in the pour-overs we’ve brewed, elegantly fruited and surprisingly sweet. However, it’s espresso where we’ll be featuring the coffee at The Crown for service, where it’s candy-like sweetness and jammy fruit profile are amplified into an experience we feel elevates the coffee to a stratospheric level. I’m of course a bit biased, here, as the longtime sourcer and supply partner with Jeanine, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Everyone here’s calling the coffee obsession-worthy with good reason – not only is it exquisitely delicious, it’s also in short supply – and warrants savoring every sip. 

Source Analysis by Charlie Habegger 

Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, the founder of JNP Coffee, is without a doubt one of the most influential individuals in Burundi coffee today. Raised in the capital city of Bujumbura, Jeanine would go on to earn an MBA from Northwestern University’s prestigious Kellogg School, cycle through corporate America, and eventually reconnect with her birth country by founding Burundi Friends International, a not-for-profit funding educational and economic empowerment programs for rural Burundians, which is now in its 13th year. After a few years marketing Burundi coffees stateside for friends and family, Jeanine realized she had every reason to lead the business, and JNP Coffee was born. 

Muyinga province is lesser known for coffee than Kayanza or Ngozi provinces to the west, but that is precisely why Jeanine and her quality team were interested in investing here. Burundi, like Rwanda to its north, is a gifted territory for coffee: elevations are consistently high, soils are generously fertile, and its arabica cultivars are unique to the rest of the coffee-producing world. Muyinga province is no exception but has not seen the same level of investment as the more developed producing regions closer to Bujumbura. JNP has for years managed a processing station in Ngozi, whose popularity has grown over time. This past harvest they began receiving cherry from yet another group of farmers, from the Gashoho municipality just over the border in Muyinga. 

Bavyeyi in Kirundi translates to “parents”, a name given to honor the generations of hardworking parents like Jeanine’s own, whose labor in coffee (something many farming families either do not consume or cannot afford to consume) provides shelter, nourishment, and educational opportunities to their children. While this lot is uniquely coffee harvested by Gashoho farmers, the total number of farmers contributing to Bavyeyi is now over 2,000. All participating farmers qualify for JNP’s Dushime program, a second-payment incentive for delivering the highest quality, which is paid at the end of each harvest, and which varies from 20-40 cents per pound.  

Drying naturals in the high and cool Muyinga climate is a painstakingly slow process, often taking 20-30 days to complete, during which the coffee is continuously circulated for even air exposure. Despite having one of the longest drying periods in the world, the cup profile is noticeably balanced and crisp.  

 

Green Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Jeanine employed a few new techniques this season for her natural coffees to turn up the fruit notes a bit, and it really shows. You can smell it in the green coffee, berry and tropical-like fragrance as soon as you open the bag. 

Unsurprisingly, the coffees here are nicely dried and sorted to a standard 15+ screen size, common for the nicest coffees anywhere in Burundi. The especially unusual thing we’ve noticed this year in both the washed and natural coffees is the extraordinarily low density. You’ll likely want to use a gradual heat approach in the first minutes of roasting and keep a very close eye on the change rate at first crack, as the coffee is quite likely to run away from you with any spare momentum it can find from residual heat.  

Local cultivars are largely traditional and legacy plants handed down generationally since the 1930s and 40s. Widely assumed to be predominately French Mission (Bourbon) variants, World Coffee Research has uncovered deeper histories into the two most common local iterations grown in Burundi and nearby Rwanda. Jackson (a Bourbon type plant) is the surname of coffee farmer in India who identified the tree as rust-resistant; seedlings were then sent to other British occupied coffee growing regions in Kenya and Tanzania. Mbrizi (a Typica type) is thought to have been introduced from Guatemala to Rwanda. Neither tree is considered disease resistant, but both tend to produce excellent cup quality despite relatively low yields. 

 

Diedrich IR-5 – Loring Falcon 15 Analysis by Doris Garrido 

As part of my routine when I get ready to roast a new coffee I run the Sinar to take density and moisture, run the free density, and I’m good to go. In this case, I ran the Sinar with the wrong settings and I got high numbers. The free density was okay, but I thought I got high moisture to work with mainly during Maillard.  I decided to start not too hard, but added gas around the turning point because energy was going to be needed in the middle of the roast. Because of my incorrect moisture reading, my coffee dehydrated faster than I anticipated, and I ended with a shorter yellowing time. I didn’t panic because I wanted to end up with a more complex body, but I was sure that this coffee would show a lot of fruity flavors. I spent a short time in development and ended the roast at 399F for a 5.5lb batch in this 5-kilo roaster. 

The coffee tasted just delicious the next day: sweet raspberry, blueberry jam, kiwi, mint, dry strawberries, and maple syrup. As is noticed on the notes this roast brings a lot of cleanliness to the cup and we were tasting fresh fruity notes with a slightly thin body. I would say that I could make a perfect pour-over out of this coffee, but I am not done here. This Burundi natural is going to the espresso bar here at the Crown, and by saying this I mean I must move to a bigger roaster for production, and here at the Crown, that means the Loring S15 Falcon.  

I went ahead and got ready to roast an 18lb batch on this 25lb machine. On the Diedrich, I did a long drying phase because I thought I’ll be doing a longer Maillard. In the Loring, I started with a 428F charge temperature and started adding gas around turning point to push the roast. Drying was 47 seconds shorter than my previous roast, which gave me the chance to stretch my yellowing area and use the time that was saved in drying. I was looking for a similar development time, and as tends to happen to me, when I was catching the first crack I ended up taking my time reducing the power, and my final temperature went high: 406F, remember that this is a natural and loses moisture faster.  

Full time on both roasts: Diedrich 8:38, Loring 8:40. And on the ColorTrack differences were not that far apart: Diedrich 60 whole beans 55 ground, Loring 59.95 whole 54.7 ground – remarkably close. On the cupping table, the complexity of the sugar browning, the body, and the mouthfeel was simply great. I would say that I was tasting fresher fruits and fresh strawberries on the first Diedrich roast, and in this second one, the same strawberry was more like strawberry jam. Knowing that this is going to be an espresso I am very satisfied, and I am pretty confident it would do just perfectly. I got great information from these two roasts – even a closer color track number would taste different. I was looking for similar targets, but in terms of taste the spectrum of flavors here has a wide range and is amazingly tasty. I would never hesitate if it needed to be clean and floral with great acidity, or if I needed to bring more body, sweetness, and complexity: the sky is the limit with this coffee. 

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below.  

Generally, we have good results starting our 500g roasts with 428F preheating, P6 power, F2 fan, and d6 drum speed. Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing! 

I’ve gained a thorough appreciation for fruit dried coffee from Burundi over the past few years, and I have a feeling that JNP Coffee had a pretty strong hand in making that happen. This year has kind of blown the lid off of what I’ve had in the past, though, and it’s not because I left the container closed while the coffee was degassing. If anything, I’ve been drinking this coffee too quickly.  

Anticipating just what Chris has noted above about natural coffees, I decided to do a “soak” of the heat from the barrel, charging the green coffee into the roaster at 446F with F2 fan and only P2 heat application until turning point. I then increased heat to P8 and let these settings roll until 3:07 / 295F, where I increased fan to F3. At yellowing, I reduced heat to P7 for one minute before lowering to P6, where I stayed until First Crack. At 7:05 / 367F, I noticed that this coffee was no longer losing momentum and I increased fan speed to F4, just about as far as I dared. This kept my rate of rise from spiking, but keeping this coffee from taking off post-crack required me to bring fan speed to F5 and risk a crash (which I thankfully avoided). I dropped the coffee into the cooling tray after 1:16 of development, at 10:12 / 397.2F.  

I did spend a bit more time in Maillard than in drying for this coffee, and that’s something I really strive for with natural coffees. The result was fabulous. Concord grape, strawberry, fruit leather, and palm sugar all made themselves known with a good deal of fanfare. Despite all the hooplah, this was an incredibly chuggable coffee, and I sort of have a hard time putting the cup down even now. Try it as a filter drip, espresso, or just chew on the roasted coffee – you’re going to have a good time! 

You can follow along with my roast profile below on roast.world: 

https://roast.world/@egilman/roasts/tlRZ6Fl9cCUOeg67tKMHD 

 

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

I’ve been recently coming around to the idea of coffees as personalities. They all bring their own unique element in how they ‘speak’ to us on the cupping table and in turn how the land producers are speaking to us. If I had to categorize this coffee from Gashoho it would be durable and dynamic. There has been some extra vetting on this coffee and each time it is on the table it is continuously pleasant. Its flavors range from fresh coconut, kiwi, and strawberry to eucalyptus.   

With these roast profiles Doris and I can break down how this coffee distinguishes itself. In the high density roast we found notes of blueberries, fresh strawberries, raspberry, mint, basil, and coriander. The strawberry note endures itself through every roast, it is just a matter of what form of strawberries. Is it dried, jammed, fresh etc.? The flavor on this roast felt particularly outgoing in in how berry-forward it presented itself. The low-density roast brought on notes of bergamot, blood orange, grapefruit, hard candy, mint, and orange zest. The lower heat roast was a little zestier, and the acidity felt a little bit more prominent. Doris and I both agreed that the two roasts were delicious but preferred the slightly bolder body and brightness of the low-density roast. 

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 

Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

Brew Analysis by Grace Newcomb 

It’s no secret that the lot of us love a fruity East African Arabica, and Burundi is one of those hidden gems that is producing some of the highest in quality. The growing conditions are ideal being located in a mountainous region with fertile soil and plenty of shade. 

While sipping this coffee, one might take a moment to appreciate the meticulous work that goes in to producing this high elevation coffee in a remote village. Due to the cool climate, farmers rotate the drying coffee continuously for about 20-30 days to ensure even air exposure. Such a lengthy task to produce a beautifully balanced cup. That’s one of the many reasons it’s important to take the time to find the best ways to brew this coffee. It’s not only exciting to see what lively flavors we might find, but also to be a part of highlighting a wonderful and rare gem of a coffee. 

For the first brew, I decided to use the Kalita Wave for the device, a slightly finer grind, and a longer bloom of 60 seconds. This produced a very sweet profile with plenty of citrus and a very subtle spice to balance it out. A few notes that stood out most for this brew were caramel, molasses, orange spice, and mango.   

Even though the first brew tasted lovely, I wanted to try the next using the same method as the first, only this time going for a standard 40 second bloom. This coffee was pleasant tasting, but not nearly as fruity and citrusy as the first. Instead, this brew was a little more savory and warm. We tasted notes like toasted marshmallow, umami, and an herbaceous flavor that might remind you of a bay leaf. There was a nice subtle honey like sweetness and just a hint of citrus rind at the end.   

The TDS for our first two brews were not too high, but just high enough to make me think it wouldn’t hurt to try a more moderate grind (set at 10), and why not a new device while I’m at it? I chose the classic V60 and reverted to a 60 second bloom for our third go. This kept our TDS the same as our second, but with deeper chocolate notes, a juicier burst of citrus, and a hint of umami, similar to our second brew. All in all this was pleasant, yet I couldn’t help but feel a pull toward that fruitier cup we tasted at the very start.  

Going back to an extended bloom of 60 seconds using the Wave, with the goal to still bring down the TDS just a bit (if at all), I decided it’s best to try a fine to moderate grind of 9.5 with the hopes of getting some of that fruit back. I was very happy with the profile, body, acidity and sweetness that came from this fourth brew. It was a lovely, light and delicate cup with floral notes like hibiscus, and the fruitiness of a lightly steeped Earl Grey tea, sweet toffee, honey, and a zesty citrus. I thought to myself that I would love to sip a full, warm mug of this. 

To sum up this uniquely fun experience, I’d say that I think our fourth brew is recommend for the Burundi Gashoho. I used The Wave for this one, but really you can use any pour over device and it will more than likely yield the same, or similar results.  

Espresso Analysis by MJ Smith 

It’s always a fun day when dialing in a natural coffee on espresso! This coffee is jam-packed with a lot of the complex, fruity tasting notes one would expect from a natural, but with a candy-like twist. It also had a bit of surprising savory and herbal goodness and some dark chocolate and warm sugar notes holding it down.  

 

Recipe 1: Dose: 19.5g, Yield: 38.3, Time: 34 seconds 

This was a truly wild shot of espresso. I was instantly obsessed. I went with a dose of 19.5 grams and pulled it at 34 seconds with a yield of 38.3. With some instantly noticeable and exciting notes of candy-like apple and grape, as well as raspberry, blueberry, honey, sage, and dark chocolate, this espresso truly danced across my taste buds.  

 

Recipe 2: Dose: 19g, Yield: 38.6, Time: 32 seconds 

Even though that first shot was love at first sip for me, for the sake of variety, I wanted to see how this coffee would act with a slightly lower dose. I dropped the dose down to 19 grams, and pulled a 32 second shot with a yield of 38.6 grams. While I still slightly favor that first recipe, I also found this one completely enjoyable. I picked up notes of apple, blackberry, caramelized sugar, cacao, rose, honeysuckle, and just a hint of umami.  

This coffee has proved to be a truly interesting and complex shot of espresso, and I can’t wait to mess around with it some more once it makes its way onto our featured espresso offerings down here at The Crown. When dialing in for yourself, I would recommend a slightly longer extraction time and a dose somewhere in the 19 to 20 gram range. Enjoy!