Coffee drying on raised beds in Nyaruguru District, Rwanda. Courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

By now, most readers of Coffee Review are familiar with the win-win-hypothesis of specialty coffee: If consumers pay more for better coffee from dedicated producers, and if some of the high prices paid by consumers make it back to those producers, they will be encouraged to generate even better coffees, which will please even more consumers, who will gratefully continue to pay higher prices, and everyone, from farmer to consumer, will benefit. This is roughly the hypothesis upon which Coffee Review was founded in 1997, and it remains central to our mission.

This report is not the place to evaluate this hypothesis or its overall success, but in regard to the impact on producers, it is important to note that accumulating statistical evidence suggests that North American specialty coffee roasters do pay significantly higher prices for the coffees they buy than does the commodity coffee industry. In other words, some of the higher prices Coffee Review readers pay for today’s fine specialty coffees do make it back to producers.

The reason for bringing up the specialty coffee win-win hypothesis in the context of this report is to argue that it is nowhere as crucial as with the coffee-growing societies we feature in this report, those in the heart of Africa situated around and near the immense 1500-mile-long string of Africa’s great lakes that form the source of the Nile river. The coffees from this region are largely grown at high elevations and they come from admired tree varieties prevalent in the region for decades. Origins include the tiny but coffee-rich countries of Rwanda and Burundi, the nearby Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), and parts of Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi.

Some of these societies are among the most impoverished in the world, and coffee, usually produced on tiny plots averaging fewer than four or five acres, is a desperately needed lifeline. Specialty coffee is also a crucial vehicle for economic cooperation among competing, often warring, social groups. The spectacular long-term success of the USAID-funded PEARL project aimed at rebuilding genocide-ravaged Rwanda through improving its coffees and positioning them at the high end of the specialty market is often cited as one of the main reasons the Hutu and Tutsi factions in Rwanda now maintain a largely peaceful, productive coexistence after decades of strife and tension.

Kabirizi washing station, COOPAC Cooperative, Rwanda. Courtesy of Cafe Imports.

True, traceable coffees from single farms of the kind we are familiar with from Latin America are rare in most of these African coffee-growing regions. Coffee is usually brought by smallholding farmers to mills (called washing stations). There, the coffees are bulked together in lots by experienced mill operators who are either members of the cooperative operating the mill or knowledgeable managers familiar with local farms and farmers. Despite the relative anonymity of individual farmers, the lots coming from the best mills are often exceptional, sometimes extraordinary, and certainly worthy of admiration and prices to match their excellence.

Lots of Samples, Impressive Ratings

We tested 75 Great Lakes coffees for this report. The greatest number by far were produced in Rwanda (36 samples; average rating 90.6, low 81, high 94) followed by Burundi (18 samples; average rating 89.9, low 87, high 93). DR Congo and Tanzania supplied fewer samples but still generated impressive ratings. We tested six samples from DR Congo (average 89.3, low 85, high 94) and eight from Tanzania (average 90.1, low 86, high 94). Only Uganda and Malawi lagged, with very few samples.

Sorting just-picked cherries in Nyaruguru District, Rwanda. Courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

Fine Coffees, Devastating Setback in DR Congo

However, specialty coffee’s promise of better lives and greater social stability for the region’s smallholding producers is an often fragile undertaking. This was made starkly clear just three weeks before the publication of this report by the devastating eruption of the volcano Nyiragongo in the Kivu region of the DR Congo. The eruption struck at the heart of one of specialty coffee’s most inspiring recent success stories. Over the past decade, a range of agencies has led an increasingly successful push to develop fine coffee in the Kivu region. The eruption, which occurred without warning, displaced several hundred-thousand people, many of them coffee producers who were just achieving a modicum of stability in this region long tormented by ethnic violence.

Tio Fallen of Houston-based Three Keys Coffee preparing to roast “Congo Square.” Courtesy of Rob Sykes.

The six samples we cupped from Kivu for this month’s report averaged a rating of nearly 90 and include the superb 94-rated Three Keys Congo Square reviewed with this report. The Three Keys sample displayed a strikingly original wet-processed profile, simultaneously intensely sweet, vibrantly tart and deeply savory all at once, with an intriguing juxtaposition of pistachio-like nut and sweet honey. Those interested in other variations of the Congo cup might look for the Joe Bean Congo Umoja or the Fieldheads Democratic Republic of the Congo, both 90-rated, though not formally reviewed for this month’s report.

Recovery in the Kivu region will doubtless be slow; immediate help is needed. If, in addition to supplying indirect long-term support by buying DR Congo coffee, readers are inclined to help directly, here are two relevant programs now active on the ground aiding those displaced by the eruption.

On the Ground is a non-profit that supports smallholding coffee farmers in the DR Congo and Chiapas, Mexico regions. It is in part supported by Coffee Review advertiser Amavida Coffee Roasters and regular submitter Wonderstate (formerly Kickapoo) Coffee. On the Ground is offering immediate emergency help to those displaced by the eruption from its headquarters in the coffee town of Minova. Along with other charitable non-profits, Save the Children is working on an emergency basis directly in the region.

The Classic Great Lakes Washed Cup: Deep, Sweet-Savory, Cocoa and Flowers

It is reassuring, perhaps, to report that the classic washed cup from these origins, particularly from Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo, has not been completely submerged in a torrent of cup-altering processing experiments of the kind that are rippling through the coffee-growing regions of the world. It is a cup distinguished by a savory-sweet depth and richness, with occasional nutty or starchy undertones, but almost always with cocoa-toned chocolate leanings and surprising grace notes of flowers and dried fruit. We tested many satisfying variations of this cup from multiple roasters that we rated solidly in the 89 to 91 range. Reasonably priced, always with some little sensory surprise hidden among the more familiar aromatics, these are excellent choices for everyday drinking, particularly when they are in season from roasters, usually spring and early summer in the global north.

For two particularly fine renditions of the style, see our reviews here of the cocoa- and floral-toned Big Creek Rwanda Rulindo Tumba (94) and the similarly deep, chocolaty and floral Kakalove Rwanda Akagera CWS (93), the latter complicated by a shimmer of tart citrus.

Coffees of the Akagera Project in Nyaruguru District, Rwanda, in various stages of the drying process. Courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

Most coffees from the Great Lakes origins are produced from variants of Bourbon-derived varieties long grown in the region. It may not be fanciful to relate the sweet-savory, floral and cocoa tendencies of Rwanda and Burundi coffees in particular to this Bourbon heritage. As for processing, many mills in the Great Lakes region, as well as in Kenya, practice a particularly complex version of the washed  process, in which freshly skinned fruit is first subject to a ferment step with no added water (“dry” ferment), then washed, then fermented a second time with clean water added to the tank, before being washed still again. The impact of these procedures on the sensory style of these coffees has not, to my knowledge, been systemically investigated or even much discussed, but I would guess that these practices may have something to do with the regional tendency to low-toned yet deeply expressed complexity.

The Potato Defect

Rwanda coffees, in particular, are haunted by this taint — the sudden, disconcerting aroma and flavor of raw potato. Apparently, the defect is set off by bacteria (Pantoea coffeiphila) introduced under the skin of the coffee fruit via a species of stinkbug called antestia. The bacteria cause a compound to develop around the bean that produces the powerful and memorable raw potato taste. A single fully potato-tainted bean can spoil an entire brew batch. Remarkably, among the 60-some coffees we tested from regions affected by the taint, we ran into no full-on potato cups, as we call them. This is a tribute to careful farm management and to careful examination of freshly washed coffee. Beans carrying this taint evidently can be identified only by visual examination when the coffee is still in its wet parchment, fresh from washing, and the tainted beans must be picked off the drying tables by hand, one by one.

Impact of Alternative Processing Methods

Like coffee producers all over the world, many mills in the Great Lakes regions are experimenting with alternative processing methods. The goal is to differentiate their coffees from the regional wet-processed norm I described earlier and to attract more attention and higher prices from buyers. True, the Great Lakes producers do not appear to be taking as many processing shots in the dark as their counterparts are doing in Central America and elsewhere. For example, we had no samples whatsoever processed using the experimental anaerobic ferment techniques increasingly popular in Latin America and Ethiopia. (See our May 2021 report, Fun With Ferment: Anaerobically Processed Coffees.)

We did test quite a few natural-processed samples, however (beans are dried in the entire fruit), and a handful of honey-processed coffees (the skin of the fruit is removed but at least some of the sticky fruit flesh is allowed to dry on the beans). The Great Lakes naturals we tested struck me as rather traditional given their processing method. They tended to aim unapologetically for the big-time sweet fruit and chocolate potential of the method. We review here two of the successes, the Rwanda Kinini Village Natural from PT’s Coffee (94; juicy sweet, blueberry pie) and the Rwanda Dukunde Kawa from Black Oak Coffee (93; dark chocolate, crisp and fragrantly cedary).

Sorting cherries for the Long Miles Coffee Project in Kayanza State, Burundi. Courtesy of Oliver Stormshak.

If the drying is not handled well with honey coffees, profiles can end rather rough, even musty. However, the two honey-processed samples we review here were particularly graceful examples of the style. The Olympia Coffee Burundi Mikuba Honey (93) is round, balanced and crisply sweet, with subtly original aromatics (spicy flowers, apricot). The very light-roasted Mamechamame Coffee Rwanda Simbi (93) is delicately brisk and lightly tart with pomegranate suggestions.

The Roast Card

Most coffees we test over the course of a year are light-medium to medium in roast, reflecting each individual roaster’s personally calibrated goal of fully developing the character of the bean while leaving behind neither a distracting scorchy edge nor the grassy, nutty hints of an underdeveloped roast. This month, however, we review one successful darker roast, the Valverde Burundi Kinyovu (92; sweetly roast-toned, roundly pungent and chocolaty), and one very light roast, the Mamechamame Rwanda Simbi (noted above, brisk and sweetly tart).

The Tanzania Exception

Tanzania, the large country south of Kenya, bordering Rwanda and Burundi on the west and the Indian Ocean on the east, is a producer that, unlike its northern neighbors Kenya and Ethiopia, has never quite broken into the specialty coffee big time. It is blessed with a variety of excellent coffee terroirs and large plantings of traditional, subtly distinctive Bourbon-related varieties of Arabica. It also benefits from a peculiar marketing advantage (or perhaps limitation) bestowed on it by coffee tradition. “Tanzania peaberry” is an arbitrary sort of specialty coffee “brand.”

The landscape surrounding Sambewe AMCOS Cooperative in Songwe Region, Mbozi District, Tanzania. Courtesy of Cafe Imports.

Peaberries, of course, are a grade of coffee produced everywhere that coffee is grown, yet for reasons that are not entirely clear, Tanzania is particularly associated with its peaberry grades. In other words, all coffee origins produce peaberries, but of all coffee-producing countries of the world only Tanzania seems to be particularly identified with them. In the early days of specialty coffee, “Tanzania peaberry” was a standard, almost requisite offering in specialty stores, and it continues to appear on specialty coffee menus and websites, though with less frequency than it once did.

The nursery at Sambewe AMCOS Cooperative in Songwe Region, Mbozi District, Tanzania. Courtesy of Cafe Imports.

We review one Tanzania peaberry this month, an excellent one, the Volcanica Tanzania Peaberry (94). It was produced in northern Tanzania, toward the border with Kenya, and perhaps for that reason its suave balance and juicy character are rather Kenya-like, with aromatics built around pungent fruit (black currant, pink grapefruit) and lush flowers. The other impressive Tanzania we review, also a washed coffee, the Lexington Tanzania Sambewe (94), is high-toned, richly juicy and sweetly bright. If neither of these profiles quite sound like the rounder, more savory Great Lakes profile I generalized about earlier, it is because Tanzania is a bit of a coffee world apart. We include its usually brighter, higher-toned coffees here for expediency (otherwise Tanzania tends to get left out of our reports), and for its geography, since much of its long western border runs through or next to the shores of two of the greatest of the Great Lakes, Tanganyika and Malawi.

Nevertheless, as with other origins we highlight in this report, Tanzania producers, often smallholders organized in cooperatives or working in collaboration with a mill, are deserving of our attention and support — as are all of the farmers, mill operators and their exporter, aid agency and roaster partners who are busy elevating the coffee societies of the Great Lakes region from anonymity to distinction.

The post African Great Lakes Coffees: Quality in the Face of Adversity appeared first on Coffee Review.

Transporting processed coffee to storage in the Kiambu growing region of Kenya. Photo courtesy of Caesar Tu.

What makes a coffee taste like it does? Many factors go into what you ultimately experience in your morning cup.

First, there’s the tree variety that produces the coffee. For specialty coffees, the varieties in question are, with rare exceptions, of the Arabica species, and there are hundreds of possibilities. Then, there’s the place in which the tree is grown — the coffee’s terroir. (There is no direct translation into English of this French word, which refers to the holistic environment in which a plant is grown, including the specific soil type, weather, altitude, and other factors.) Once the ripe coffee cherries are picked, processing is the next big x-factor. While processing experiments are all the rage in specialty coffee right now, we’ll be focusing on the classic washed method here. There are enough variations on this one method to start a conversation about the influence of processing decisions on a coffee’s final product. With the exception of the crucial final step of brewing, the last major influence on a coffee’s journey to your cup is roasting, and each of the coffees featured in this month’s report have been expertly roasted, albeit subject to different roast profiles.

For this month’s report, we re-visited the coffees of Kenya, cupping 65 samples from roasters across the U.S, Canada and Taiwan. The top-scoring 11 reviewed here rated 94-95, a very impressive showing, and 19 more scored 90 or higher, meaning that roughly half of the coffees submitted scored 90 or above. In part, this success reflects the excellence and consistency for which Kenya coffees are known. It also may speak to an unusually high-quality crop out of Kenya this year, or overall skillful lot selection by importers and roasters.

Sorting fresh cherry at the Kibirigwi Co-op in Kenya’s Kirinyaga District. Photo courtesy of Klatch Coffee.

So, again, let’s consider the question — what makes a coffee taste like it does — specifically through the lens of coffees from Kenya, in particular the 11 we review this month. Kenya, as a coffee-producing origin, is a good case-in-point for an exploration of the multitude of factors that influence cup profile because, as many experienced coffee drinkers know, good Kenya coffees often display recognizable, consistent distinctions from coffees of other origins. A Kenya is frequently recognizable on a blind table, sometimes even by aroma alone.

Kenya Tree Varieties

One factor that helps distinguish Kenya coffees from those of other origins is the classic varieties of Arabica that have long dominated production: SL28 and SL34. SL stands for Scott Agricultural Laboratories, established by the British colonial government in Kenya in 1922. Both SL28 and SL34 were selections made by the Scott Labs between 1935 and 1939, primarily and initially on the basis of drought-resistance. Recent genetic research shows SL28 as Bourbon-related and SL34 as Typica-related.

SL28 is the variety that is most often associated with the classic aromas and flavors of Kenya coffees. Think dark berries — the most common dead ringer is black currant notes, but SL28 can also evoke blackberry, raspberry and other jammy berries — and sometimes umami-laden ripe tomatoes, which can add a complex savory tone. SL28 also tends to have strikingly bright, juicy acidity that contributes complexity and balance to the cup when juxtaposed with deep fruit-sweetness.

Weighing just-picked coffee cherry. Photo courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

SL34, while not as dynamic as SL28, typically offers citrusy acidity and a full body. It usually shows up mixed with SL28 in Kenya-grown coffees.

The Kenya Hybrid Controversy

One plot twist in the Kenya coffee narrative is the increased plantings of disease-resistant hybrid varieties that may alter the distinctive Kenya cup. Two coffee fungus diseases, leaf rust and coffee berry disease (CBD), have been particularly destructive in Kenya over recent decades – Kenya lost 50% of its coffee crop to CBD in 1968. Ruiru 11, introduced by Kenya coffee authorities in the 1980s, resists both diseases, particular CBD, and is high-yielding and compact-growing. It is a complex cross of several varieties, among them SL28 and SL34 for cup quality and Hibrido di Timor (HdT), itself a natural cross between Arabica and Robusta, for disease resistance. However, its cup character has proven to be controversial.  Many cuppers claim that the Robusta influence appears in the cup, flattening the contributions of the SL 28 and SL34.

In 2010, Batian arrived on the scene. It is a single-tree selection from the fifth generation of Ruiru 11 stock, chosen for its large tree size (similar to SL28 and SL34) and superior cup quality. It is resistant to the same diseases as Ruiru 11. The promise of the Batian cup is difficult to assess at this point and at this distance, although those few samples that claim to be pure Batian that we have cupped at Coffee Review maintained the savory depth but not the juicy sweet-brightness of SL28.

Turning drying coffee in Kiambu, Kenya. Photo courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

And whether or not the presence of Ruiru 11 and Batian is contributing to a much-feared dumbing down of the Kenya cup is difficult to assess from this distance because almost all lots of Kenya that reach markets comprise a mix of varieties, sometimes only SL28 and SL34, but often some of the new hybrid varieties as well. If there is erosion of Kenya distinction due to this shifting mix of varieties it would be difficult to confirm based on the brilliance of some of this month’s 95- and 94-rated samples that include at least some Batian and Ruiru 11 in the variety mix reported by importers.

Kenya Terroir and Kenya Acidity

Most of the prime coffee-growing terrain in Kenya is at high elevations, from 1,400 meters to 2,000 meters (4,600 to 6,600 feet) above sea level. Night temperatures are cool and trees are stressed, encouraging slow bean development and potentially increasing bean density and, presumably, cup complexity.

The aspect of Kenya terroir that has attracted the most speculation is the mineral-rich volcanic loam on the high volcanic plateaus around Mt. Kenya and the foothills of the Aberdare Range where classic Kenyas are grown, and its possible relationship to Kenya coffees’ high-toned, often “sparkling,” acidity.

Acids that most contribute to cup character are all organic – produced by the plant itself – with the exception of phosphoric acid, which is inorganic and comes from the soil. Apparently, soils in the classic Kenya growing regions are rich in phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is added to sodas to brighten flavor and make them more tangy, leading to the assumption that phosphoric-rich soils contribute to the vibrancy of acidity in the best Kenyas.

In fact, the acidy sensation of Kenyas is complex and varied:  sometimes bright and light-footed, sometimes citrusy, sometimes winey (or tannic). What sets Kenya apart from most specialty producing origins is not just the quality of its coffees’ acidity but its clarity. In the best examples, including all 11 of the coffees we review here, the various experiences of acidity are all expressive and clear.

It’s difficult to drill down to the influence of soil type in specific coffee-growing regions as compared with others, as less effort has been put into identifying regional distinctions in soil (and terroir, more generally) in the coffee industry than in the world of wine, where terroir is a chief marketing distinction about which much research is conducted, down to the sun’s angle on each vineyard slope.

Regional Distinctions

The three regions represented by the 11 coffees we review here, however, are well-known and fairly consistent in their cup presentation: Nyeri, Kiambu and Kirinyaga, which form a triangle at the base of Mt. Kenya. Coffees grown in the Nyeri region tend to be bright, sweetly tart (sometimes tropical) and high-toned, while Kirinyagas are often more floral-driven and sometimes sweetly savory. Kiambu County coffees run the gamut from round and cocoa-toned to berry-driven and citrusy, depending on varieties selected.

Kenya’s Meticulous Grading and Processing Methods

While the cherries’ ripeness at picking is perhaps the most important determinant of cup quality, Kenya’s green processing and grading is consistently painstaking.

Drying coffee on raised beds in the Kiambu growing region of Kenya. Photo courtesy of Pebble Coffee.

Kenya is particularly famous for its meticulous washing process, which involves pulping (skin removal), then fermenting the beans for 12 to 24 hours before rinsing and soaking them again overnight in fresh water. The so-called “Kenya process” or double-soak is often cited as a contribution to the unique character of Kenya coffee, although the details of its impact have not been systematically studied.

After the green coffee has been dried and rested, it is hulled and subjected to mechanical and electronic grading, which removes imperfect or defective beans and separates beans by size. In the Kenya system, only large screen 18 beans are classified as AA, while screen 16s are labeled as AB. These size distinctions are not directly correlated with quality but rather with consistency. Some roasters may prefer AB, just as some lovers of maple syrup prefer grade B to grade A. It is a matter of specific coffee lot and personal preference.

Kenya’s Auction System

Instituted in 1934 and still held at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, the government-run Kenya coffee auction is often cited as another reason Kenya coffees excel in quality and distinction. Auction systems exist, or have existed, in other East African coffee countries, but the Kenya system is the most influential and admired. Cooperatives submit lots of coffee to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, and samples of these lots are made available to licensed dealers who will, 12 days later, have an opportunity to bid on them on either their own behalf or on behalf of their customers, typically roasters or importers.

The logic of this auction system, which ties price discovery to cup quality and character, has been much praised in the coffee world, but in recent times the auction has come under fire both by cooperatives and specialty green-coffee buyers. The cooperatives claim its complications add too much cost to the coffee, money that never makes it back to them, while specialty coffee buyers would rather buy directly from cooperatives for reasons of traceability and partnership.

Consequently, in 2006, the Kenyan government relaxed the rules that required all coffees to be sold through auction and began licensing independent marketing agents who can bypass the auction and trade on the open market. This step also has created controversy, however, and the Kenya trading system as a whole continues in a process of re-examination.

Riches Liao of DoDo Kaffa in Taipei. Photo courtesy of DoDo Kaffa.

The 11 Kenyas Reviewed

These are some of the most delicious coffees we’ve tasted all year, all rated at 94 or 95 Five come from roasters in Taiwan, five from roasters in the U.S., and one from a roaster in Toronto, Canada. While there is much nuance and range — from fruit-toned and juicy to deep and chocolaty, to savory and complex — each offers an element of the “classic” Kenya cup profile so many of us love.

The post The Joy of Kenya, Classic Coffee-Producing Origin appeared first on Coffee Review.

For those familiar with the extraordinarily difficult history of this region, the recent, widespread conversion from commodity coffee—usually carelessly harvested and dried—to carefully managed, high-quality, high-value specialty production, may appear miraculous. The historical challenges for farmers have been daunting: little technical agricultural support and training; lack of capital; abysmally low coffee prices; weakness of overall infrastructure, and, in some cases, brutal civil conflicts that have often stretched over years, even decades.

Coffee drying on raised beds in Burundi. Courtesy of James Viljoen.

Yet the potential advantages of these regions for producing fine coffee are equally profound: hard-working farmers, relatively high growing elevations, volcanic soil, and in some cases the temperature-moderating influence of the region’s enormous fresh-water lakes. Lake Victoria is the world’s third-largest freshwater lake by area, and Lake Tanganyika, bordering Burundi, is the second-largest by volume. Lake Kivu is considerably smaller, but still a very large lake, and directly proximate to key growing regions in both Rwanda and Congo.

But most important is tree variety. All of the coffees we review here, with the exception of the Uganda, are comprised either exclusively or predominantly of local cultivars of the Bourbon variety of Arabica, cultivars long grown in the region and admired for their tendency toward complex aromatics and deep sweetness, often juxtaposed with savory resonance.

From Commodity to Specialty

Almost all coffee from these regions is produced by smallholding farmers, most impoverished, most working their own land. Yet the leadership and the structure of the coffee industry in these countries, often brutally disrupted by civil war and violence, has not succeeded in encouraging the sort of well-organized cooperatives that produce most of the finest coffees of Ethiopia and Kenya, two African origins that are the darlings of fine-coffee roasters worldwide.

Brady Guinn, of Novo Coffee, in the company’s Denver roastery. Courtesy of Novo Coffee.

This picture is now changing, largely owing to the work of international and national development agencies, non-governmental organizations, and idealistic, quality-oriented entrepreneurs, exporters and their importer and roaster colleagues. Where before, there was little-to-no organization among isolated smallholding farmers caught up in civil conflict, we now see more and more successful cooperatives and efficient centralized wet mills operated by both co-ops and exporters. Extraordinary transformations range from the conversion of Rwanda from producer of cheap commercial coffee to leading specialty producer in a few short years after the 1994 genocide, to the slow but steady rise of Burundi as a fine coffee source after the end of its civil war in 1905, to the recent successful establishment of the 6000-member SOPACDI cooperative in the war-ravaged Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These stories are one incentive for many roasters to promote them and consumers to buy them.

The “Potato Defect” Challenge

Nevertheless, some of these origins, particularly Burundi and Rwanda, suffer from a particular and unique challenge: the “potato defect.” This powerful taint, unmistakable for its pungent raw potato odor and flavor, is caused by airborne bacteria that enter coffee beans through holes created by the antestia insect. One bad bean can ruin a cup; just a few can compromise an entire bag, or even an entire lot of coffee. The tendency for this taint to suddenly erupt in the cup of an otherwise sound, pleasing coffee has understandably created obstacles to the acceptance of coffees from these regions, again, particularly those from Burundi and Rwanda. The good news from this cupping is that efforts by farmers and mills to control the potato defect appear to be working, at least in the specialty lots we sampled this time around. We found only a single sample (out of well over 100) displaying this distinctive taint, a clear victory for the farms, mills, exporters and importers who contributed to this month’s submissions.

Burundi Is This Year’s Winner

When sourcing samples for this report, we assumed we would get a range of coffees from across all five origins. We received an impressive number of submissions in total: over 100. Yet, of that number, a full 56 were produced in Burundi. We also received 27 from Rwanda, but just 16 from Congo, seven from Uganda, and a single submission from Tanzania, which happened to be the top-scorer: The Tarime Tanzania from JBC Coffee Roasters, rated 95. Immediately following was Dragonfly Coffee Roasters’ Fair Trade, Organic DR Congo from the SOPACDI Cooperative, at 94.

Furthermore, of the total of 11 coffees that rose to top scores of 92 and higher, nine were from Burundi. Even more remarkably, an additional 25 Burundis scored ratings of 90 or 91—too many to review individually for this report, though all were deserving. We added reviews of the two highest-rated Rwandas (Willoughby’s Hingakawa Fair Trade Women’s Co-op and Big Creek’s Rwanda Cyato, both rated 90) and the highest rated Uganda (Oceana Coffee’s Uganda Kapchorwa, also rated 90).

Characterizing Coffees of the Africa Great Lakes Region

As always, we cupped these coffees blind, on a rolling basis as they arrived, over the course of several weeks, and without regard to origin. On every table, we could pick out “classic” cup profiles from these regions: bright and balanced, with a smooth, full mouthfeel and crisp, often juicy, acidity. Although only 14 coffees emerged with scores of 92 or higher, the majority of coffees we tested were solid, pleasing coffees.

Most Africa Great Lakes coffees are wet-processed using traditional methods, meaning the fruit skin and pulp are removed from the beans immediately after harvesting and before drying. The “classic” profile characterized above applies to the best of such coffees. But approximately 20 percent of the coffees we received were natural-, or dry-processed, which means the beans or seeds were dried encased in the entire fruit. Some submissions were full naturals, while a handful of others were honey-processed, a method that removes the outer skin of the coffee cherry as in the washed method, but leaves some fruit residue on the seed during the drying process.

Natural-processed coffees drying in the sun in Burundi. Courtesy of Oliver Stormshak.

Five of the 14 top-rated coffees reviewed here were processed by one of these alternative methods. These natural- and honey-processed coffees perhaps predictably displayed more prominent fruit notes, both in aroma and cup, as compared to their fully washed counterparts. But it is also interesting to note how many additional natural- and honey-processed coffees attracted scores of 90 or higher, a greater percentage than one might expect, given that these alternative processing methods are still rarely applied to top coffee lots in the Africa Great Lakes region. This trend could bode well for coffee production across the region as climate change continues to make farmers’ work more challenging, since sun-dried (natural-processed) coffees require much less water in their preparation than do washed.

Why Did Burundi Emerge As a Success Story This Year?

When we noticed how many coffees from Burundi were testing well, we looked back at our one-off reviews from earlier in the year, and noted that both the Kiniyota Burundi and Kiniyota Espresso from JBC Coffee Roasters had scored 95; a Buhorwa from Big Shoulders Coffee earned 94; and a Nemba from Amavida both rated 93. Why are we seeing such consistent distinction from this origin, particularly this year?

Dan Shafer, director of operations at importer Crop to Cup, based in New York, shared his thoughts. He attributes recent success in Burundi, first and foremost, to the return of the Cup of Excellence (COE) program, an internationally juried green coffee competition, in 2017. There was no COE competition and auction in Burundi in 2016, and its return, according to Shafer, raised awareness at the farm level and encouraged growers to compete for higher prices at auction.

Farmers bringing coffee cherries to the weighing station in Kayanza Province, Burundi. Courtesy of Oliver Stormshak.

Shafer also notes that a low crop yield, as he says Burundi experienced this year, often correlates with higher quality in the smaller volume of coffee produced, especially if that quality is reinforced by the rigorous sorting that leading exporters are now applying to their high-value microlot programs. He also says that such meticulous sorting, supported by farm-based practices aimed at improving quality, has reduced the occurrence of the potato defect, further strengthening buyer confidence.

Sorting coffee cherries in Kayanza Province, Burundi. Courtesy of Oliver Stormshak.

Max Acien, managing director of Greenco, a company established in Ngozi, Burundi in 2015 to help smallholding farmers improve coffee quality, weighed in from the producer perspective: “Burundi is evolving from a volume-based strategy to a quality-oriented strategy,” he says. He points out that each producing country in East and Central Africa is growing and changing at its own pace, and that Greenco’s investments in trainings and resources that encourage farmers to produce better coffee have yielded success and higher prices almost immediately, with the potential for further improvement still enormous.

Here are the top-rated coffees from Burundi we review in conjunction with this report:

• Barrington Coffee Roasting Mahonda Burundi (93)
• Olympia Coffee Roasting Burundi Gitwe Natural Bourbon (93)
• Reunion Island Coffee Gahahe Burundi Natural (93)
• Green Stone Coffee Burundi Long Miles Coffee Project Natural (92)
• Folly Coffee Winer (92)
• Kakalove Café Burundi Long Miles Coffee Project Red Honey (92)
• Mustard Seed Café Burundi Gaharo Hill Long Miles Coffee Project Natural (92)
• Novo Coffee Kiniyota Burundi (92)
• Oughtred Coffee Burundi Gahahe (92)

For further exploration of the countries in the Africa Great Lakes region, see editor-in-chief Kenneth Davids’ origin overview.

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The organic movement is fueled in large part by consumers’ health concerns. People are understandably wary of consuming agricultural poisons along with their fruits and vegetables. With coffee, however, the health issue is less persuasive than it is with many other agricultural products: apples or strawberries, for example, which we consume whole and often raw. We do not consume the fruit of the coffee tree. Instead, we strip the fruit off and compost it, retaining only the seed, which we then dry, roast at very high temperatures, grind, and soak in hot water. Subsequently we throw away the dried, roasted, ground seeds and drink the water.

No study we have seen links prepared or brewed coffee, including espresso, with significant levels of contaminants. Typical is a 2008 Australian study which meticulously tested a wide range of coffee beverages purchased randomly in the Australian food service market and found that “there were no detectable levels in any of the coffee [beverages] sampled. This included all 98 pesticide residues, 18 PAHs, beryllium, mercury and ochratoxin A.” The key findings summary concluded that “The overall levels of chemical contaminants identified in this survey are generally considered to be low and are consistent with those reported in other comparable surveys both in Australia and overseas.”

Coffee cherries being harvested in the Yirgacheffe growing region of southern Ethiopia.

Nevertheless, pesticides and herbicides are widely used, sometimes abused, in the coffee fields of the world. Many consumers seek organically grown coffees out of concern for the health of the earth itself and those who live on it. According to a report from Technavio Research, the Compound Annual Growth Rated (CAGR) for organic coffee is expected to increase by 13% between now and 2021. This research attributes this projected growth, in part, to millennials, who, as a demographic, are said to be concerned with the environment and a healthy lifestyle, and to have a willingness to spend money for specialty or niche products like organic coffee. So it appears that, while the driving force behind the demand for organic coffee may be changing from health concerns to environmental concerns, the demand itself is on the rise. According to a World of Organic Agriculture 2016 report quoted by ecologist Julie Craves, coffee is the world’s largest single organic crop.

11 Top-Scorers from Ethiopia

Although the largest volume of organically grown coffee is produced in Latin America, particularly in Peru and Mexico, Africa also produces significant volumes. We have tested and enjoyed many engaging and distinctive organically grown coffees from Africa over the past couple of years, hence the subject of this report. Our hope was that we would source a range of organically certified coffees from several producing countries on the African continent.

It did not turn out that way. Out of 70 samples submitted, 56 were from one country—Ethiopia. Furthermore, of the 11 coffees rated 92 or higher and reviewed here, all were produced in Ethiopia.

In retrospect, the dominating presence of Ethiopia should have come as no surprise. Ethiopia usually vies with Mexico as the world’s second-largest producer of certified organic coffees, after Peru. And, certifications aside, almost all of Ethiopia’s coffee is farmed without synthetic inputs of any kind, largely because farmers can’t afford them. A study done in 2014 by the International Coffee Organization estimated that 95% of Ethiopia’s coffee is de facto organically grown. Nevertheless, only 10% of that coffee is eligible for organic certification because the rest is not fully traceable back to the cooperative or farm where it was produced.

Members of the Homacho Waeno Cooperative harvest coffee. Courtesy of Sustainable Harvest.

Many roasters queried us to ask if they could submit coffees they felt confident were farmed without use of synthetic inputs because of their familiarity with the producers. Nevertheless, for this report, we concluded that we needed to stick to reviewing coffees that consumers could be assured were produced under organic conditions using organic protocols. We went so far as to check the organic documentation at the farm level provided by importers for all the coffees we review here.

Finally, the timing of this report perhaps favored coffees produced north of the equator, where the main coffee harvest takes place earlier in the year, rather than south of the equator, in countries like Tanzania and Uganda, where the harvest starts near the end of the year. When choosing the optimum time to organize a tasting report, we often struggle at Coffee Review with these sorts of timing trade-offs.

One Country, Plenty of Options

Although only one producing country is represented in this month’s reviews, the range of coffees styles and pleasures these reviews describe is wide and engaging. Consumers seeking an exceptional cup carrying the reassurance of a third-party-verified certification will find a wide range of sensory options here, all distinctive and all deeply attractive.

Ethiopia coffees, whether certified organic or not, are produced from tree varieties native to Ethiopia and grown virtually nowhere else. These varieties tend to produce coffees with typically striking cup character: bright, lively and balanced in structure and intricately engaging in aroma and flavor. Furthermore, the best mills in Ethiopia are also ingenious and meticulous in their processing methods. Classic wet-processed or “washed” Ethiopia coffees (in which fruit skin and pulp are removed before drying) tend to highlight floral and citrus notes, while “natural”-processed Ethiopias (beans are dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed) lean toward lusher fruit and deeper flowers. Fine examples of organic coffees prepared by both processing methods appear in this month’s reviews.

Of the 14 samples we received of organic-certified coffees produced in Africa origins outside Ethiopia, nine were from the Democratic Republic of Congo and two were from Uganda. Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda contributed one sample each. These 14 coffees ranged in scored from 84-91, with five scoring 90 or above, a good showing, and encouragement for those who may want to consider buying organic coffees from these origins. The vast Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which contributed nine samples, has established itself as a source of fine specialty coffee through the development of the SOPACDI cooperative in the far eastern part of the DRC, just across Lake Kivu from Rwanda. This rapidly growing cooperative now has 5,600 members and is apparently succeeding its goal to help heal wounds left by the latest in eastern Congo’s seemingly endless string of horrific civil wars. The cooperative’s coffees typically carry both organic and Fair Trade certification and can be quite attractive in the style of the pungently spicy, sweet-savory coffees that often come out of the African Great Lakes region.

How Does Organic Certification Look to Roasters?

One of the more interesting themes to surface during our testing and interviewing for this report was the relationship of roasters to the certified organic market. These relationships turned out to be more complex than we expected.

Organic certification at the farm level is overseen by various regional agencies, but, unlike sellers of organic vegetables, who don’t need further certification to sell organic produce, coffee roasters must also be certified in order to legally sell coffee that is labeled “organic.” Roasters must supply the certifying agency (different in each state) with certification paperwork from the farm and importer, as well as undergo annual inspection to ensure that organic coffees are handled in areas separate from non-organic, in much the way Kosher food is certified. This process involves both a one-time application fee and an annual inspection fee, fees that many small-scale roasters complain they cannot afford.

The obvious question arises, then: How important is organic certification to the roaster? We received almost as many answers as the number of roasters we interviewed.

The Bag and the Coffee Inside

Approaches ranged from commitment to organic as a core value in a business model to mere coincidence or afterthought. Furthermore, several of the top-scoring coffees came from roasters who don’t label their coffees as organic, even when these coffees are farmed organically. The reason? They don’t have USDA certification as organic roasters, making it illegal for them to do so.

Reunion Island lists the organic certifier at the farm level on their retail bags. Courtesy of Reunion Island.

The top-rated Reunion Island Sidama (94) is Fair Trade as well as organic-certified. Anne Wiseman, marketing coordinator for Reunion Island, says that it’s important for the company to offer organic-certified coffees, and that their organic selection is growing with consumer demand. Reunion Island has committed to carry this same organically-certified Sidama, from the same importer and producers, on an ongoing basis.

Randy Lint, of Big Creek Coffee Roasters in Hamilton, Montana sent us an Ethiopia Gedeb Halo Beriti (94) that is certified organic at origin, but is not labeled organic. While Lint has been a certified organic handler in the past, he has found the cumbersome process of certifying his roastery not worth the cost, though he is still committed to the associated practices. He says his local customers trust his sourcing, and his business is successful without offering the added reassurance of certification. Nevertheless, Lint acknowledges that this might change as his roastery grows.

Revel Coffee’s Gary Thiesen has a similar perspective. For him, cup quality is more important than certification, though he was pleased to be able to purchase the Ethiopia Shakiso Mormora (reviewed here at 92) as certified organic at the farm level. But nothing on the bag indicates this certification, as per U.S. law.

Coffee tree growing in the Guji Highlands of southern Ethiopia. Courtesy of Revel Coffee.

However, Haden Polseno-Hensley, co-owner of Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, whose Ethiopia Kayon Mountain scored 93, pursues a business model committed to organic certification. He observed that organic-certified coffees are often of higher quality than those not certified. He says, “When we started in 2010, we were 100% organic. This was based on philosophical choice, but also marketing strategy. Large grocery store chains, especially ‘lifestyle’ chains, want organics. They want to press the ‘easy’ button when it comes to showing their customers that they have quality goods. Ethiopia is a strange bird, though. While it may be true that most Ethiopian coffees are de facto organic, we’ve actually come to find that the certified coffees are often of a higher quality. Is this because the producers are more attentive to cultivation and processing since they are paying for certificates?”

The terraced slopes of Kayon Mountain in the Guji Zone of southern Ethiopia. Courtesy of Cafe Imports.

Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea is represented here with an Ethiopia Gelgelu Natural (93). Owner Barry Levine regards organic certification as important because many consumers prefer it. But, as a company, he says Willoughby’s is “quality-centric.” He goes on to say that, “We would have purchased this coffee had it been conventional, but have a preference, when the quality is really there, to have an organic offering, too. We have, in fact, had other excellent Ethiopia Naturals this season that were not organic, but were just too good to pass up. This coffee offered it all.” Because of logistical considerations, some Willoughby bags include the USDA organic seal and others do not. For this particular coffee, Willoughby’s prints the organic certifier on their bags in lieu of the USDA stamp.

Coffee cherries drying on raised beds at the Worka Cooperative in southern Ethiopia. Courtesy of Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea.

The same holds true for Kickapoo Coffee, whose Ethiopia Kirite also scored 93. Caleb Nicholas says, “About 97 percent of the coffee we roast is certified organic, and we would not have purchased the Kirite if it were conventional. The USDA seal is optional, and we designed the bags to accommodate both organic and non-organic. If we put the seal on it, it would be just another sticker. Instead, we just label the coffee as organic and list our certifier, MOSA.”

Kickapoo Coffee’s roasters working side by side on vintage Probat machines. Courtesy of Kickapoo Coffee.

The Ethiopia Amaro Gayo Natural roasted by Ben’s Beans (92) happens to be certified organic, but co-owner Glen Lundstrom is willing to purchase quality coffees that are farmed organically but do not have certification if his trusted importers recommend a particular coffee. He says, “We are looking for coffees that are grown and processed free of any sort of chemical intervention. We specialize in certified organic coffees because this provides our customers with a level of confidence that the coffees are grown and processed using healthy and sustainable practices.  However, we also realize that, because many of these coffees come from smaller farms, organic certification is not always an economically viable option, even though [the farmers] may grow and produce the coffees using the same practices as a certified farm.  That is why we rely heavily on our import partners to provide us with background information on the farms and processors of any coffee we purchase.”

“Organic certification,” says Aaron Jordan of Roast House Coffee, whose Ethiopia Suke Quto scored 92, “is the bedrock of Roast House’s green coffee purchasing values. Seven years ago when the company started, we made a commitment to exclusively purchasing organically grown coffees, and one of the ways we prove that commitment is through certifications. It’s very important to the core of our business values and ethics.” So, Roast House has essentially built its business on organic certification as a fundamental value, and has drawn customers who share that priority, rather than picking and choosing coffees to market to various customer sectors. However, the Suke Quto bag doesn’t include the USDA organic seal, simply because Jordan reserves bags with the seal for his year-round offerings. (The Suke Quto is a limited reserve).

Also reviewed here are Black Oak’s Ethiopia Hambela Alaka (93) and Noble Coffee’s Ethiopia Bishan Fugu (93), both of which are certified USDA organic, and labeled as such on the bags. Red E Café’s Homacho Waeno Natural (93; one of two coffees on this list imported by Sustainable Harvest), is in the same category as the Big Creek and Revel coffees noted above: certified organic at the farm level, but with no certification indicated on the bags.

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Distinctive coffee origins like Kenya don’t so much display single dominating notes as they do dominating tendencies. These sensory tendencies may be shifting and complex, yet are generally recognizable. They are a set of possibilities that individual coffees riff on.

You could say that this month’s best Kenyas, particularly those reviewed here at 92 or better, all express in varying ways a sort of paradox, a simultaneous lush seduction and invigorating challenge. The seduction comes in the depth, the sweetness, the chocolate, the hints of flowers, the smooth mouthfeel and general balance. The challenge comes somewhere in the heart of a pungent, twisty, sometimes dry, sometimes tart fruit. The favorite descriptor in the coffee industry for the pungent/sweet fruit characteristic of fine Kenyas is “black currant,” a reference to the piquant-tasting berry most often encountered in jams, in crème de cassis liqueur and as an element in savory-sweet sauces. In fine Kenyas, the black currant can be the center of a constellation that includes sweet tomato notes and various citrus suggestions like tangerine and blood orange. Complicating the black currant constellation may be savory-tending herb- and incense-like hints.

This paradox of sweet seduction and invigorating pungency is what makes classic Kenyas particularly attractive to aficionados and dedicated black coffee drinkers, less so perhaps to casual coffee drinkers. Nevertheless, there is plenty of seduction in all of this month’s reviewed coffees, starting with the very distinctive, yet balanced and complete, Giv COFFEE Embu Gakui Peaberry and Willoughby’s Kenya AA Kigwandi Estate, both topping this month’s ratings at 95.

No Dumbing-Down this Year

True, some of the Kenyas we cupped for this month’s article were riffing on a different tune — you could call it the tune of general high-grown Arabica mediocrity. In some cases the character of the coffee seemed muted by careless roasting, but in other cases it appeared that the green coffee was simply an ordinary, rather simple, high-grown washed coffee without much character of any kind, including Kenya character. This is the great bogeyman for Kenya lovers, of course: that the planting of new high-yielding, disease-resistant hybrids like the sinister-sounding Ruiru 11 and the more recently developed Batian, plus potential labor-saving shortcuts in the generally flawless Kenya processing methods, may turn one of the world’s great and distinctive coffee origins into just another shrinking source of decent but characterless high-grown Arabica.

However, whether owing to stubborn adherence to tradition on the part of aging Kenya producers, or the continuing effectiveness of a Kenya auction system designed to reward quality and distinction, or the knowledge and determination of exporters and importers coupled with savvy sourcing from the best small American roasting companies, there was not much sign — if any — of the widely anticipated dumbing-down of Kenya among the samples in this month’s testing.

The SL28 and SL34 Factor

It’s even possible that the fear of Ruiru 11 has been exaggerated by specialty-coffee buyers. On the other hand, the distinctive and crucial character of the old, Bourbon-derived, Kenya-naturalized SL28 and SL34 varieties appears to be supported by this cupping. Nearly all of the high-rated samples tested for this month’s article were attributed mainly to trees of these two celebrated varieties, though often with an admission that there was also a little Ruiru 11 in the mix. Prompted by the recent interest among producers worldwide in exploring distinctive-tasting coffee varieties, SL28 has been planted elsewhere in the coffee world, although not enough of it has reached the market to judge how well it maintains its character in terroirs other than those in south-central Kenya. We did review an SL28 sample from the Kona region of Hawaii (Hula Daddy Laura’s Reserve SL28, December 2014) which cupped very much like a fine Kenya and attracted a stellar rating of 94.

On the other hand, one top-rated coffee among those reviewed here came from a mix of varieties, none of which was SL28 or SL34. The 92-rated Abundancia Kenya Blue Mountain Ruita I AA also was unusual in a couple of other respects: It came from the little-known Kisii or Gusii growing district in southwestern Kenya, near Lake Victoria, and was imported and roasted for the American market in Portland by a Kenyan farming family. Not only are most of the high-rated Kenyas we review produced from trees of the SL28 and SL34 varieties, but virtually all also come from the traditional growing regions in south-central Kenya, roughly in the area between Nairobi and Mt. Kenya. Interestingly, despite its difference from more typical fine Kenyas in regard to both traditional variety and terroir, this Kenya, though more gently stated than most of the others to which we assigned high ratings, still showed clear Kenya character, including a rather explicit black currant note.

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What generally can be said about the coffees of these lake regions? They are all high-grown though typically not extremely high-grown (accounting for their moderate yet vibrant acidity); they are almost universally produced from well-established local variants of the great heirloom Bourbon variety of Arabica (accounting for their complex and engaging aromatics and flavor); they are produced by small holders (making them attractive to programs that seek to improve the lives of small-holding farmers through encouraging specialty coffee production); and the best are processed, usually by the classic ferment-and-wash method, at often recently established “washing stations” or wet mills, making them relatively clean and consistent. In all cases, transporting these fine coffees out of these landlocked regions is difficult, often causing quality problems, but of the thirty samples we cupped, only four displayed mild suggestions of bagginess or fading owing to storage or transport, a tribute to the commitment of the importers.

The Infamous Potato Defect

The African Great Lakes region even shares its own special cup taint, the startling “potato defect,” which particularly affects Rwanda coffees grown near Lake Kivu. The defect apparently is set off by a bacteria introduced under the skin of the coffee fruit, usually by a species of coffee borer. The bacteria causes a compound to develop around the bean that produces a memorable raw potato taste – imagine the smell of an old, sprouted potato pulled out of the compost and cut up raw. Beans carrying this taint apparently can only be identified by visual examination when the coffee is still in its wet parchment, fresh from washing, and the tainted beans must be picked off the drying tables by hand, one by one. Nevertheless, of the thirty coffees we cupped, we encountered only one sample that produced a clear potato-tainted cup, a tribute, in this case, to the skilled eyes and hands of the mill workers.

Sensory Positives

Given that we encountered only a few modest sensory negatives, what were the dominant sensory positives of the African Great Lakes coffees we cupped? Generally, syrupy mouthfeel, moderate but always rich acidity, and varying but distinctive aroma and flavor. Typically the best of these coffees were sweet and honeyish with a complicating savory edge. Along with classic citrus and berry and floral notes, they tended to display a range of savory hints: herby, spicy, nutty, agave-like, even peppery. Although some coffee insiders assume that the savory hints represent slight, serendipitous taints caused by drying in moist, often lake-influenced conditions, it seems to me just as likely that also, or alternatively, they represent characteristics of the local Bourbon-based plant material, since a savory hint is also often a component of the classic Bourbon-related SL28 cup of Kenya.

Rwanda Dominates

Rwanda dominated our cupping both in number of submissions (twenty) as well as in high-scoring samples: six Rwanda samples topped the ratings at 93. All are reviewed here. Three of these six 93-rated Rwandas apparently were from the same green coffee lot, a Karongi Gitesi imported by the same small but excellent green coffee dealer. It is always a bit disconcerting when the same green coffee lot produces multiple samples that attract high ratings in the same cupping, but remember that we cup these samples in random order identified only by number, and hold off on any effort at researching the green coffees or analyzing roast color until well after we have determined our ratings and sensory descriptors.

Furthermore, three samples from the same lot of green coffee roasted slightly differently on different equipment give advanced consumers an unusual opportunity to experience for themselves the impact that relatively small variations of roast color and profile can have on the same distinguished green coffee. Keep in mind that we did not edit our descriptions or ratings after we learned that the Orazure, Papa Lin’s and GivCOFFEE Rwandas all apparently came from the same lot of green coffee. Reassuringly, they all ended with the same final rating. But reading between the lines, as it were, of the three descriptions for these coffees, it’s apparent that the lightest roasted treatment, the Orazure, was predictably brightest and lightest in mouthfeel, while the marginally darkest of the three (we’re talking small color differences here), the GivCOFFEE, was deepest and most chocolaty, with the Papa Lin’s positioned between the two. Similar roast-related distinctions can be seen implied by the choice of descriptors for the fruit notes and, less clearly, for the savory suggestions. If you are able to buy them before they sell out, try these three coffees yourself and see what you think about their roast-related differences.

Burundi and Congo

When we turn from Rwanda to the other four origins that appear in this month’s cupping, Burundi produced the highest average score by origin, 91, though this impressive average was generated by only three samples. The highest rated of the three, the Revel Coffee Burundi Kayanza Gitika, is reviewed here at 92.

Perhaps the most interesting new coffees to come to the table arrived from the far eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo, overlooking Lake Kivu on the opposite side of the lake from Rwanda. The Muungano Cooperative, now with 2,300 members, apparently was founded to help heal the aftermath of the latest episode in the Congo’s seemingly endless string of horrific rebellions and civil wars. The politics behind the formation and recent success of the Muungano cooperative are not clear, at least not to me, given the tangle of interests in the region involving neighboring Rwanda and Uganda as well as Congo. But for certain the Muungano cooperative has had success in attracting members of varying groups and identities, setting off a hopeful version of the same healing that specialty coffee success helped bring to neighboring Rwanda after the civil conflict and genocide there. And this new Congo coffee is quite promising. We received three samples of the Muungano Kivu that together averaged an impressive 90. The highest scoring, the 92-rated Congo Muungano from Kickapoo Coffee, is reviewed here.

A Lone Uganda

Finally, we received a lone entry from Uganda: the Uganda Sipi Falls, roasted by the Taiwanese company Pebble Coffee, and certified organically grown as well as Rain Forest Alliance certified. Although the Sipi Falls Uganda is produced on the slopes of Mt. Elgon, opposite Kenya, it retains an association with the Great Lakes; its growing location appears to be less than a hundred kilometers from the shore of Lake Victoria. It was a rather uneven coffee, but quite interesting with its bright, Kenyaish acidity and musky floral notes.

The Ongoing Tanzania Peaberry Mystery

We had three samples from Tanzania, topped by the 91-rated Tanzania Shwanda Estate Peaberry roasted by Pebble Coffee. Unlike most of the other samples we review this month, this coffee was grown on a privately owned estate rather than by groups of small holders. And it reflects a conceptual association that dates back to the beginnings of specialty coffee: the association of Tanzania with the peaberry grade. Regular readers of Coffee Review know that peaberries are produced everywhere. They are a kind of bean that results when the coffee fruit develops a single, oval bean rather than the usual pair of flat-sided beans. At the option of the mill operator they may or may not be separated from the flat beans and marketed as a separate grade and product. For reasons that I still don’t understand, the association between Tanzania and peaberry was already well-established in the specialty coffee business forty years ago. Tanzania peaberry almost always appeared on the menus of the new specialty coffee stores of the era, whereas flat beans from Tanzania hardly ever appeared. The profile of Tanzania peaberry back then was expected to be light-bodied but lively, which functions nicely as a very general set of descriptors for this month’s gently lush, lightly floral-toned Shwanda Estate Peaberry.

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No problems with the Old Soul Ethiopia Natural I am drinking, however. It is a fine variant on this new style of Ethiopia natural: lighter roasted, syrupy in mouthfeel, richly balanced in acidity, with a deep honey sweetness and a port-wine edge to the chocolate and fruit. When the dried-in-the-fruit method is applied to naturally distinctive and complex coffee varieties like the ancient heirloom cultivars grown in Ethiopia, the fruit and chocolate is often joined by floral notes rendered particularly sweet by the dried-in-the-fruit process, as is the case in several other of the highest-rated among this month’s samples.

The Rise of the New Naturals

This “new natural” cup has attracted a rather passionate following in North America over the past several years, ever since Starbucks (yes, Starbucks) first introduced the type to North American retail in around 2005 with its “Sherkina Sun-Dried Sidamo.” During the intervening years the type has been adopted by smaller, more nimble roasters, and has undergone considerable refinement at origin. That refinement is on impressive display in this month’s reviews.

For years new naturals were a hit-or-miss effort by cooperatives and exporters, replete with versions that were exhilaratingly fruit-and-brandy-toned in front while often bitter and edgy in the finish. But the overwhelming evidence now is that over the past few years more and more producers in southern Ethiopia are learning how to manage the ferment edge in the dried-in-the-fruit process with something close to precision.

In the very cleanest of the coffees we review this month the ferment notes are virtually undetectable. The 95-rated Papa Lin’s Ninety Plus Nekisse “Red,” for example, is ferment-free though still a very strikingly complex and original cup, a cup whose deep, wide-ranging aromatics I suspect could never have been achieved through conventional wet-processing. Other samples reviewed this month, like the Old Soul Aramo (93), the Mr. Espresso Yirgacheffe Kochere Aricha (94) and the Olympia Ethiopia Banko Natural (94), are complex and clean yet complicated by just a whiff of brandy- or Bourbon-like notes. Finally are samples with a sweet but full-throated, unapologetically ferment-related chocolate and blueberry character like the Yo el Rey Ethiopian Worka (93) and Kickapoo Ethiopian Natural (92).

The Ancient Revived and Refined

Someone new to coffee might ask: Why is the act of simply drying the coffee seeds or beans inside their fruit considered so “new” and “unorthodox,” given it is such an easy process when contrasted to the conventional wet process, which involves performing a sequence of urgent, time-sensitive processes to strip off skin and fruit before the beans are dried? The answer, of course, is that the natural or dried-in-the-fruit process is, indeed, much older than is the wet process. In fact drying in the fruit is as old as the beverage coffee itself, while the wet or washed process was not fully refined until the nineteenth century. Furthermore, in southern Ethiopia, where the best of this month’s coffees originated, the washed process was not instituted until the 1970s. Before then all Ethiopia coffees were dried-in-the-fruit naturals.

But by the time coffees like this month’s new naturals began their climb to fame a few years back, southern Ethiopia was firmly and exclusively associated with the pure, floral-and-citrus washed coffees produced by the many wet mills or “washing stations” scattered across the by-then celebrated southern Ethiopia growing regions of Yirgacheffe and Sidamo.

So, true, the style of coffee that appears with such originality and vivacity in this month’s reviews is more an update and revival than an innovation, but it is a revival that in its refinement and sophistication represents a major technical step forward for coffee and one that has begun influencing coffee production throughout the world. Meanwhile, the simple, primitive, dry-em-any-old-way style of dried-in-the-fruit coffee is still practiced in parts of Ethiopia and throughout the world, producing coffees that can range from outright foul (we had one such coffee submitted this month) to fruity but edgy.

Yemen: Precious but Still Fading

Many coffee aficionados are fascinated by the example of central Yemen, the dry, mountainous region just across the Red Sea from Ethiopia. The Arabica coffee species originated in Ethiopia and controversy continues over whether the various acts that transform the seed of a berry into a finished hot beverage were first elaborated in Ethiopia or later in Yemen, after the Arabica tree was carried there sometime between the sixth and ninth centuries. One sure thing is that coffee as a commercial crop produced for export was first established in Yemen, and it was “Mocha” coffee from Yemen that gave Europe its initial taste for the beverage.

Yemen remains particularly captivating because coffee is still produced there almost exactly as it was when coffee first came onto the world stage starting in the fourteenth century. The only difference is that now gasoline engines rather than camels turn the millstones that husk the dried coffee. I spent six weeks in Yemen in the 1990s, continually enthralled by the depth and continuity of Yemeni coffee production and culture. Unfortunately, then as now, the best Yemeni production is difficult to experience in North America. Most Yemen coffee is produced from a mix of ripe, overripe and under ripe fruit. Those lots that are produced from mostly ripe fruit may cup beautifully in Yemen, but by the time they travel from the arid highlands of central Yemen through the humidity of the Red Sea to North American roasters they tend to turn dull at best, rubbery at worst.

Efforts to revive Yemeni coffee are underway, including, I would hope, direct air shipment from Sana’a, though the two samples we cupped for this month’s reviews were disappointing. The better of the two, the CaféTaster Haraaz-Red Marqaha, is reviewed here at 89. The importer reports that it was produced from ripe fruit dried on raised beds, as were the highest-rated southern Ethiopia samples reviewed this month, but in the cup the potential freshness and fruit of the type are backgrounded, perhaps dulled in transit or storage, with only an interesting though limited sweet spice and cacao character surviving. We reviewed a Yemen from the same importer with a score of 92 in September of 2013, however, which may reflect either a superior lot or superior freshness. Hopefully Yemen will rebound and restore its contributions to the world’s growing repertory of refined dried-in-the-fruit types.

But for now the soaring, giddy exhilaration of these ancient dry-processed coffee types, produced in both Ethiopia and Yemen from tree varieties hundreds of years old, are best experienced rendered by the technically refined innovations of a new generation of Ethiopia coffee producers.

2013 The Coffee Review. All rights reserved.

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The limitations imposed by poor coffee infrastructure have particularly plagued Tanzania, the large country that sits between Burundi and Rwanda and the ocean. Tanzania should be a major source of fine coffee as well, but over the years few Tanzanias have reached us, with this year apparently no exception. We received five samples and reviewed two, both at 90.

Great Bourbon Character, Faded Bourbon Character

Returning to Rwanda and Burundi, what can a devotee of fine coffee expect from this year’s crop? Judging by the total of twenty-nine Rwandas and Burundis we cupped this past month, classic, elegantly Central Africa Bourbon character if you find fresh crop coffee purchased by astute green buyers; decent but faded Africa Bourbon character if you get last year’s crop purchased perhaps by less selective buyers. Regrettably, we were a little early with this review. New, 2012 crop coffees were just beginning to arrive in April, so I would estimate that over half of the coffees we cupped were last year’s crop. Most of these solid but apparently rather faded coffees did not make the cut at 90, but rather hovered in the 86 to 89 range.

What did strike me about both old and new crop Rwandas and Burundis, however, was the relatively continuity of cup profile. Particularly with the Burundis, perhaps just a little less so with the Rwandas, the characteristic flavor complex I associate with Bourbon-related cultivars grown in the high elevations of Central Africa and Kenya tended to dominate: A fruit character tartly sweet in taste, blackberry-like in flavor, but dryish in mouthfeel. I hope that description sounds at least potentially attractive to coffee newcomers; in the greatest of Kenyas and the best of Rwandas and Burundis it can be one of the most pleasingly and elegantly complex coffee characters possible. It often is supported by various complex floral notes and by crisp, nutlike cocoa and other, rounder and deeper, fruit notes.

For me, the potential weakness of such profiles is the dry mouthfeel, which in older or lesser versions of the type can come across as woody and astringent rather than crisp and dry. This was the case with many of the Rwandas and Burundis that arrived earlier in the month and which were probably last year’s crop. Later and presumably fresher arrivals tended to show the positive side of the profile: livelier, with the dryish mouthfeel boosted by a berryish juiciness and/or floral richness.

The Terroir Burundi Ngozi Gihere 2 (91) probably showed this character with the most classic lucidity, with the Temple Burundi Mumirwa (90) a drier and more delicate but equally explicit expression. The Rwandas from Klatch and Johnson Brothers Coffee, both at 93, showed more intensity and aromatic fireworks, the Klatch adding lots of honey and flowers, the Johnson Brothers rich, forceful acidity together with deeper-toned, less berryish fruit. The Willoughby Burundi (92) expressed the sweet/dry character with extraordinary floral complexity, the floral suggestions ranging from brisk, bitterish lavender to sweetly lush jasmine.

The Tanzania Footnote

Most of the five Tanzania coffees that arrived for our cupping appeared to come from the southwestern growing region near the town of Mbeya, and tended to be softer, both less complex aromatically and less bright in acidity, than the coffees of Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya. Perhaps growing altitudes are lower in the region, or typical varieties grown are less distinctive. The Temple Nzovu Tanzania (90) displays the dry berry character I’ve been carrying on about, but with less intensity and perhaps more gentle balance than the higher rated Rwandas and Burundis. Coffee drinkers who avoid intense acidity may find it a more drinkable coffee than they find some of the higher rated samples. The same might be said of the Kéan Tanzania Mpito (90) and, moving back to the west, the gently elegant Johnson Brothers Rwanda Kinunu (91).

2012 The Coffee Review. All rights reserved.

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Of the forty-one Kenyas we sampled for this month’s article, over 50%, or twenty-one, attracted scores of 90 or higher, and thirteen (all reviewed here) rated 92 or higher. However, it turns out that quite a few Kenyas are not particularly distinctive. Many that we cupped for this article came across as pleasant high-grown East Africa coffees, but without the distinctively pungent Kenya fruit and intense but sweet acidity. And a few turned up that simply were not very good coffees by any criteria: mildly to heavily tainted, probably from moisture damage during drying.

Predicting a Good Kenya: Starting with Price

These mixed results suggest that the Kenya name on the package or website alone is not enough to assure a superior coffee. How are consumers likely to know before brewing whether they are buying one of the more distinctive, brightly exotic Kenyas as opposed to one of the more ordinary?

We sorted through the forty-one Kenyas we cupped using two simple criteria to see whether these criteria would net useful pre-purchase generalizations that could be used to anticipate quality in a Kenya.

Regrettably, one of the clearest distinguishing criteria was price. Assuming readers can more or less trust our ratings, the higher the retail price the better the Kenya. This has not always been true with other origins we have tested, but it did appear to apply to these forty-one Kenyas. The nineteen coffees rating 90 or over for which we found retail prices averaged $1.54 per dry ounce. Coffees rated between 85 and 89 for which we found prices averaged a much lower $1.02 per ounce. Of the six coffees rated 84 or lower, the two we found prices for averaged $0.78 per dry ounce.

This price-to-distinction curve is probably clearer for Kenya coffees than for coffees from many other origins because most green or unroasted Kenya coffees continue to be sold at auction in Nairobi following a system that over the decades has proven to be a very effective mechanism for linking price and distinction. Lots of coffees from cooperatives are tendered for auction and a few days later, after exporters (and in some cases their clients) have had an opportunity to cup them, are sold at auction. Exporters may bid on behalf of clients or on their own behalf. This system undoubtedly has had a positive impact on quality over the years, and Kenya green coffee prices generally are among the highest in the world (setting aside the irrationally myth-driven prices for Jamaica Blue Mountain and Kona), though members of Kenya cooperatives continue to complain that they are being underpaid for their efforts, as they probably are.

The SL28/SL34 Criterion

A second indicator for quality in Kenya coffee is botanical variety of Arabica. It increasingly has been clear to those of us who cup Kenya coffees on a regular basis that the traditional varieties of Arabica most widely grown in Kenya, SL28 and SL34, tend to produce more distinctive-tasting coffees than coffees produced from newer more disease-resistant hybrid varieties like the widely grown Ruiru 11. I am not writing about quality here, because quality can be defined simply as freedom from taint contributed by careless picking and processing. The best India wet-processed Robustas are among the highest quality coffees in the world if we only judge on the basis of freedom from taint. Nor am I arguing that older varieties of Arabica inevitably taste more distinctive than newer varieties, or that varieties created decades or centuries ago by selection necessarily are more distinctive than varieties created recently by deliberate hybridization. Typica, one of the coffee world’s oldest widely grown varieties, definitely does not produce a distinctive cup, whereas Pacamara, a recent hybrid, does. But it is abundantly clear that SL28 and SL34, as they have naturalized in the highlands of Kenya, are linked to the distinctive pungent, complex fruit character we associate with the finest Kenya coffee.

So look for some indication on the package that the Kenya you are considering buying was produced from trees of the SL28 and/or SL34 varieties. When we matched variety to rating for the forty-one Kenyas we cupped, we found that coffees indicated as having been produced entirely or mainly from trees of the SL28 and SL34 varieties averaged a rating of 91, whereas coffees from the hybrid Ruiru 11, or (as was more often the case) coffees for which no variety was listed, averaged 87. For the skeptical, keep in mind that we establish detailed ratings for each sample before we identify it or learn anything specific about it.

Caveats and Details: Variety, Estates and Cooperatives, Processing

There are some caveats in regard to variety, however. Kenya coffee authorities are currently promoting a new highly disease-resistant hybrid called Batian which they claim (based apparently on one set of tests by two panels) cups more attractively than a test sample of SL28. It will be awhile before we see much of this new variety appearing on specialty coffee lists, but we definitely will see it, given the glowing descriptions provided by Kenyan coffee authorities who claim an almost otherworldly combination of high yields, strong disease resistance and distinctive cup quality and character for their new baby. I hope Batian does turn out a success both for producers and consumers. But, for now, look for SL28 and SL34.

Other details: Two of this month’s high-rated samples, the Strongtree Kenya Kiaora Estate (94) and the Victrola Kenya Chania Estate Natural (92) fell into separate categories in several respects. Both were produced from trees of the Bourbon variety, a variety that shares the pungent/sweet fruit character of SL28 and SL34 and is one of the presumed progenitors of those varieties. Both the Strongtree and Victrola Kenyas also are atypical because they were produced by larger farms or estates rather than by the cooperatives of small holders that produced our other high-rated Kenyas. Both also were most likely sold through channels outside the auction system. Finally, the Strongtree is an organically grown coffee, unusual in Kenya where chemicals are in common, if discreet, use, while the Victrola Chania Estate is a lushly fruit-toned, dried-in-the-fruit “natural” coffee, also unusual in Kenya, where traditional and meticulous wet-processing is overwhelmingly the norm.

Read Beyond the Ratings

If you select coffees from our reviews, keep in mind that differences in character may be more important to you than one or two rating points. These are all splendid coffees, but all display subtle but quite distinct differences. Take time to read the fine print.

Also, given that we limit the number of coffees we actually review to between eight and fifteen, I thought it would be appropriate to offer an “honor roll” of other fine Kenyas from this month’s cupping we rated 90 through 91 but did not review.

Allegro Coffee, Kenya Grand Cru (91);
Coffea Roasterie, Kenya Ndimaini (91);
Stauf’s Coffee Roasters, Kenya AA Full City (91);
Caribou Coffee, Kenya Karibu (91);
49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, Kenya Kangocho (91);
Green Mountain Coffee, Kenyan Highland Cooperatives Fair Trade (90);
SpecialtyJava.com, Kenya AA Githongo (90);
Four Barrel Coffee, Kenya Murang’a (90).

2011 The Coffee Review. All rights reserved.

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Some North American coffee drinkers who taste these coffees for the first time are enchanted. Others simply don’t like the experience. For the nay-tasters a fine Yirgacheffe “doesn’t taste like coffee,” meaning, of course, it doesn’t taste like coffees produced elsewhere in the world from more familiar varieties of Arabica. The hint of flowers that turns up in fine Arabicas from all over the world may be dandy, for example, but the often intense floral character of exceptional wet-processed Ethiopias, particularly Yirgacheffes, can be unsettling to those not accustomed to the note.

Consequently, those newcomers who sample from the twelve exceptional Ethiopia wet-processed coffees reviewed this month can expect something different from the coffee experience they are accustomed to, though it is a something different that shares certain common sensory tendencies. Pronounced floral notes are seldom absent; citrus in various manifestations is always there, as are dry, nut-toned chocolaty notes to which we at Coffee Review often apply the shorthand term “cocoa.” Usually there is also a backbone provided by a pungent but fresh aromatic wood note suggesting fresh-cut fir or cedar.

Variations in the Aromatic Repertoire

Nonetheless, once this fundamental aromatic repertoire is understood and accepted, one notices striking variations, variations that we have tried to highlight in our reviews. Sometimes the floral character dominates, sometimes the lemony citrus, sometimes the dry chocolate, nut and fir. Citrusy profiles are typically more brightly acidy than profiles in which the flowers or the cocoa/nut dominate; floral profiles are generally sweeter and arguably more balanced. The citrus can be ripe and orangy, richly lemony, or sometimes bittersweet, similar to the bergamot used to flavor Earl Grey tea. The flowers can be lush and jasmine-like or spicy and rose-like. What we are calling cocoa can be rather chocolaty or drier and more nut-like.

Taken together, all of this sounds like an entire aromatic universe, which it is. But, again, it is a universe somewhat apart from other sensory universes of coffee. Its features are shared by many fine coffees of the Arabica species, but it is only expressed in its fullest intensity and range in the best wet-processed Ethiopias, and in the striking (and much more expensive) coffees produced by the Ethiopian-heritage Geisha or Gesha variety now emerging in Panama and elsewhere in Central America.

Regions, Names and Distinction

Yirgacheffe, a relatively compact growing region, lush and Edenic, produces by far the most consistently distinctive exemplars of the southern Ethiopia wet-processed sensory universe. I was told during a visit to a large Yirgacheffe coffee nursery some years ago that no outside cultivars or varieties ever have been introduced into the region, and that all new plantings represent offspring of the traditional local varieties. Assuming this assertion is correct, it undoubtedly accounts for the uniqueness and intensity of the Yirgacheffe profile. Note that of the eight highest-rated coffees in this month’s reviews, all but one are Yirgacheffes. One can only hope that the well-meaning innocence of some who work purely on the commercial or technical side of coffee doesn’t lead to a dilution of the singular and extraordinary beauty of Yirgacheffe through introduction of conventional-tasting hybrid varieties into the region.

By comparison, coffee entering the market as Sidamo or Sidama tends to express the intensity and uniqueness of the classic southern Ethiopia wet-processed profile with less reliability. My assumption is that this is true because the region tapped for coffees sold under these names is larger and the production more diffused, with more opportunity for dilution of the classic profile through introduced varieties of Arabica. Since the 19th century the term Sidamo has been used by the coffee industry to describe coffee that had been grown in a quite large area of southern Ethiopia. This area includes the current Sidama Zone, within the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region, as well as parts of the neighboring Oromia Region. In the mid 1990s the Ethiopian government changed regional boundaries and names, eliminating Sidamo Province, and in 2008 the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECX) officially changed the name of coffee traded from this area to Sidama. But old habits die hard, so we now see both Sidamo and Sidama used on sacks of green coffee as well as on retail bags of roasted beans. Generally we have chosen to call the coffee by whatever name the retailer assigns to it, whether Sidamo or Sidama.

Roast Impact

Of course roast has an impact on how the Ethiopia wet-processed profile works out in the cup. One of the striking outcomes of our reviews is a strong implication that a classic medium roast (a roast concluded toward the middle of the interval between the first and second crack) best develops the virtues of the typical southern Ethiopia washed coffee. Recall that we never look at the roast color before we cup samples, much less test for it, and of course we identify samples only by number until we’ve committed to our ratings and descriptions. Only then do we test for roast color. Nevertheless, five of the six top-rated coffees reviewed this month showed a whole-bean Agtron or roast color reading of exactly 50, and the sixth a reading of 52. (For more on Agtron numbers see Ted Stachura’s blog on the subject or our reference section.)

Such a tight clustering of roast color among coffees at the top of the ratings is unusual. On our instrument (Agtron instruments may differ in the detail of their readings) 50 reflects a classic medium roast. Samples we tested for these reviews that were only a few points lighter or a few points darker on our instrument did not impress as much as the samples that hit this unusually tight target.

I can safely say that with other origins that we review on a regular basis the apparent optimum roast level is not nearly so tightly expressed. The optimum roast level for Sumatras often appears to be darker than a classic medium roast, for example, yet we have awarded several fine Sumatras high ratings at very light roasts. Most Latin American origins also seem to show well at a considerably wider range of roast color. One cupping does not a generalization make, but such consistency does invite attention.

A Good Fit for Organic and Fair Trade

A word on socio-economic and environmental issues. Coffee in southern Ethiopia is generally produced by small holders, with fruit removal and drying performed at centralized “washing stations” or wet mills using traditional methods. Some mills are operated by cooperatives; others by exporters. The small-holding, subsistence farmers typically grow their coffees in movingly simple and beautiful “gardens,” with coffee trees mixed among many other plants and trees that provide food and other essentials. There is little to no use of chemicals by these small holders; they can’t afford them.

This context explains why so many certified organic coffees appear in this month’s reviews, and why many are certified Fair Trade as well. Minimal use of chemicals facilitates a transition to certifiable organic practices, and the prevalence of cooperatives encourages Fair Trade certification, a certification that is explicitly designed for democratically run cooperatives.

The Ethiopian coffee industry is certainly not without its problems. The main one from a roaster/consumer perspective is getting these great coffees out of Ethiopia in a timely way before they fade or turn musty. But the roasters and their exporter/importer partners appear to have achieved that with the twelve coffees reviewed here, which together give a fine and varied account of this striking coffee type.

2011 The Coffee Review. All rights reserved.

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