Burundi Hero Shrew – beans for filter coffee

Burundi Hero Shrew coffee for alternatives - take a look at it

Highlights of Burundi Hero Shrew beans

• Terroir: Gahahe, Kayanza, Burundi
• Producer: small farmers' cooperative of Greenco Coffee
• Mill: Gahahe
• Coffee growing altitude: 1800 m.a.s.l.
• Harvest: 2023
• Arabica botanical variety: Red Bourbon
• Coffee cherry processing method: washed (wet - depulped, fermented, washed)
• Quality points awarded in cupping: 86,5

Meet the coffee processing station - Gahahe

The station is named after the municipality, Gahahe. The washing station is located at an altitude of 1,805 metres above sea level. There are 10 tanks for cherry fermentation, four coffee selection tables and 180 drying tables. During the season, the Gahahe station can process up to 750 tonnes of cherries.

The washing station is involved in a number of projects reaching out to and supporting farmers, including a livestock project and a number of Farmer Hub projects focusing on strengthening cooperatives and improving yields.

Washed/wet processing of Burundi Hero Shrew coffee - what is it?

The processing of coffee cherries is done to remove the peel and the pulp with which the green bean is covered. The beginning of this process is the selection of the fruit, which is dropped into the water - the heaviest ones will stay on the bottom and the lightest ones will be near the surface. The drifting ones, those with the lowest density and any foreign bodies are removed.

To get to the main raw material, which is the coffee bean, the first step is to separate the peel and pulp from the coffee bean using a depulper, which is, in simple terms, a drum with holes smaller than the fruit through which it is forced. It is then that the top layer of the fruit is pulled off.

The raw material thus processed goes into a tank filled with water, where the fermentation process will take place. This process takes a whole day and, in the meantime, the staff at the coffee processing station repeatedly move the skinned fruit so that as many floaters - i.e. cherries with hollow seeds inside - as possible emerge.

During fermentation, micro-organisms such as yeast and lactic acid bacteria feed on pectin and other sugars turning the hard-to-remove layer, into a gel, easily removed by rubbing.

After 24 hours, the beans are drained into a canal where they are washed of any remaining pulp using hoe-like tools, the cleaned coffee is taken to a patio where it dries in the sun.

The seed is now surrounded only by a membrane (silver skin) and a thicker skin called parchment. The parchment has an extremely important function during drying - it slows down and thus stabilises moisture loss, which has a positive effect on storability. The grains are dried for nearly 20 days, during which time they are regularly picked, mixed and flipped.

Once the parchment has reached about 12.5% moisture content, the raw material is collected from the patio, packed into large bags where it is left to stabilise the moisture content for up to three months, all the while in the parchment - such a process is called reposo.

The final step is to transport the grain, which has reached a moisture content of 11.5-12%, to the mill where the parchment is removed, packed in jute bags and GrainPro and shipped in a container by ship.

Greenco - a company that brings together Burundian farmers in Kayanza province

Greenco is a company that oversees and organises coffee washing stations in the Kayanza province of Burundi, providing support to wash stations and producers at all stages of the production chain. They started working in 2015 and have since dominated all Cup of Excellence competitions in Burundi.

Greenco currently has 13 washing stations, all located in Kayanza in the north of Burundi. Producers receive support from Greenco CWS managers, all of whom are agronomic engineers. Currently, Greenco influences coffee production through 13 central washing stations (CWS), covering more than 15,210 coffee-producing households.

Greenco works with young agronomy graduates, providing training to farmers and manages the coffee processing stations. Young graduates are particularly well suited to Greenco's work as they are all able to work with computer systems, making the flow of information between the coffee washers and Greenco much easier. They also have a fresh and systematic approach to coffee production and processing, with up-to-date knowledge of agricultural practices.

The agronomists have received additional training from the non-governmental Kahawatu Foundation on best agricultural practices (BAP). During the off-season, they provide agronomic assistance to some 15,210 farmers who deliver cherries to Greenco CWS to prepare them for the next harvest.

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Social responsibility of Greenco

Another socio-economic challenge facing Greenco is youth unemployment. The national youth unemployment rate is almost 50%. At Greenco, young graduates receive decent wages and benefits (house, motorbike, healthcare) and real career prospects.

In addition to improving quality and productivity, Greenco aims to improve the socio-economic and environmental conditions around the wash stations. All their washes are UTZ and 4C certified. One of their focus points is building an efficient supply chain around CWS. Greenco buys 93% of their cherries directly from farmers through buying centres. In this way, they improve the price for producers.

In addition to providing training on farming practices, Greenco organises training for farmer groups on various social aspects. Coffee families learn about gender equality, financial planning, family planning and more.

How is the environment taken care of in coffee production?

Environmental management is of great importance to Greenco. They have equipped all washing stations with water treatment facilities and solar panels and batteries. The stations have areas where wastewater from the process is treated before it is fed back into the river network. Solar panels provide energy for computers, lighting and smartphones.

How coffee is grown in Burundi's Kayanza region

In Burundi, to the north, near the border with Rwanda, is the Kayanza region. This country has no precise division into regions where coffee is grown. Wherever there is post-volcanic, mineral-rich soil, the right altitude and climate, you will find mostly varieties of Arabica - Bourbon.

In the Kayanza region, there are as many as 21 stations where coffee cherries are processed. Some of them, such as the Gahahe mill, focus on the highest quality coffee and add every effort during processing to ensure that the beans gain the specialty segment.

As in the neighbouring country of Rwanda, coffees from Burundi are characterised by intense flavours and a sweet and sour combination of citrus and chocolate, as well as velvety texture and wine acidity.

How is coffee grown in Burundi?

Many trees in Burundi are red bourbon. Due to the decreasing size of coffee plantings and the ageing of the bushes, farmers in Burundi have a serious problem. Many farmers have trees older than 50 years, but with small plots of land for cultivation, it is difficult to justify taking the trees out of production completely for three or four years before new plantings start to yield. To encourage farmers to renew plantings, Bugestal buys seed from the Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Burundi (ISABU), sets up nurseries and sells seedlings to farmers at or below cost. Farmers can also obtain organic fertiliser from composted coffee pulp at the washing station.

Despite the ubiquity of coffee cultivation in Burundi, each smallholder grows a relatively small crop. The average smallholder farmer has around 250 trees, usually in their backyards. Each tree yields an average of 1.5 kg of cherries, so the average producer sells around 200-300 kg of cherries per year.