Burundi Mutambu Hill Natural One Roast
Burundi Mutambu Hill Coffee
Here is our sole natural process coffee from Burundi for this season. It is easy to (conveniently or not) forget how hard it is to produce coffee in Burundi. I love the fact that Mutambu Hill is a clean Burundi coffee, like Migoti Hill (see what I did there?), yet even sweeter, slightly riper, less citric and has a marginally heavier body.
It may be sad that this won’t be here for long. We have many new coffees lining up.
Top Trumps
Mill: Mutambu Hill
Area: Bujumbura, Burundi
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Process: Natural. Sun-dried, Raised beds, over 28 days approx.
Soil: Sandy, Loam, Clay
Average farm size: 1-5 Acres
Average Farms per lot: 500-2000.
Roast: One Roast
Filter Profile
|Aromatics: Trifle |Body: Silky on cooling| Acidity: Low and sweet|
Upfront, this is sweet and boozy like wine gums. As the liquor settles, it softens into a white, fruity sweetness with a hint of green apple and a subtle citrus finish. Later on, the boozy ripeness returns with soft, deep ripe fruit sugars and a long, lingering finish. Other possibilities in the cup: Red grape, cocoa nibs, jammy, limey.
Filter Recipe: 60-65g per litre
Espresso: This coffee was set up at 94C
This is not an easy coffee to brew in espresso. It’s a light roast, which is great in filter and (with good equipment) is extractable in espresso.
With an extra week to let your coffee settle, it can revolutionise your brewing experience! We found that 2 weeks from roast, this coffee was so much easier to brew.
Recipe for milk-based drinks. 17.5g-18g of coffee into 34g-36g of espresso. 25-30 seconds
8-9oz Milk-based drink: Sweet, lime, lactic. This is a light roast, and it is shy in milk.
5-6oz Milk-based drink: Creamy, stonefruit, soft, sweet citrus.
Espresso Recipe:
17-18g into 60g late twenties to early thirties.
Big sweetness, stonefruit and orange. This is surprisingly sweet for such a light roast.
Farm Stuff
Mutambu Hill is a washing station founded and run by Migoti. In Burundi, there are laws about moving coffee cherries after they have been harvested. This results in coffee being processed at many small washing stations close to where the coffee is harvested. This isn’t all bad for coffee quality.
Many smallholder farmers bring their freshly picked coffee cherries to Mutambu Hill and are paid above market rates.
Natural processed coffees are less appealing to producers. Why? This is for various reasons. You have greater losses. Approximately half of the total weight of your coffee is waste. Secondly, at the time you need it most, your drying beds are full for twice as long, with naturals. You can look at it this way, or the fact that your yield is halved by drying natural processed coffees. The risk is also higher than with washed coffees. More can go wrong.
Let us know how you’re brewing here