Description
ABOUT THIS COFFEE
Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, the founder of JNP Coffees, is without a doubt one of the most influential individuals in Burundi coffee today. Raised in Bujumbura, Jeanine would go on to earn an MBA from Northwestern University’s prestigious Kellogg School, cycle through corporate America, and eventually reconnect with her birth country by founding Burundi Friends International, a not-for-profit that funds educational and economic empowerment programs for rural Burundians, which is now in its 13th year. After a few years marketing Burundi coffees stateside for friends and family, Jeanine realized she had every reason to lead the business, and JNP Coffees was born.
JNP Coffee is highly focused on women’s empowerment, and along with a few local women’s rights advocates, formulated the Burundi chapter of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance. The network of IWCA farmer members in Burundi is now more than 2,000, whose coffee is differentiated by membership, marketed for its traceability and impact, and which generates end-of-year premiums for all involved. In fact, the IWCA value chain has been so impactful that JNP has created additional programs to expand their farmer base and generate premiums beyond the IWCA registered growers.
This is one of those additional programs. A local leader of a producer group in Karuzi Province decided to seek JNP’s partnership. Karuzi is located in central Burundi and historically lesser known for its coffee compared to neighboring Ngozi and Kayanza provinces, considered to be Burundi’s top quality producers. The Karuzi group had heard of JNP’s assistance programs and post-harvest premiums and wanted to know how to get involved. Due to exactly this type of demand, JNP has established the “Dushime” program (dushime in Kirundi translates to “let’s be thankful”), which provides quality consulting, lot selection, marketing to JNP’s buyer community, and end-of-year premiums for participating groups not otherwise members of the IWCA. This coffee, created from only one distinct processing lot from this harvest, has been titled Ubuto, which translates to “young”. The name is a reflection of the brand-new partnership between JNP and Karuzi Province, as well as the literal age of the coffee trees themselves, which among this group are only a few harvests old, and distinctly youthful in the cup: this microlot is toasty sweet and fruited, like graham crackers and jam, with an acidic clarity and delicate floral layer that indicates many years of bright, assertive coffee ahead.
Fully washed processing by the Ubuto group is as detailed as anywhere in Burundi where the best coffees are produced. Cherry is floated for density and visible defects prior to depulping and fermentation. After fermentation is complete the wet parchment is sorted by density in concrete washing channels. Drying takes place at first under shade, and then in open air with the parchment piled into pyramids, which are flattened and re-shaped each day as a form of incremental air exposure to slowly and evenly dry the coffee and lock in the final moisture.
SPECS:
GEOGRAPHY
Region: Karuzi Province, Burundi
Altitude: 1700 MASL
Harvest: April – August
PRODUCER
200 growers organized around the Ubuto producer group
VARIETY
Local bourbon cultivars
PROCESSING
Fully washed and dried on raised beds
NOTES:
FLAVOR Lime, green apple, cocoa
BODY Medium
ACIDITY Tart
ROAST LEVEL
Light – City
keith.a.schaal (verified owner) –
We loved this coffee. It had intense flavor without being bitter.
Vinh Le (verified owner) –
Please please make this into a subscription coffee as I would be your first customer 🙂 buying it bi-monthly 🙂 i love this coffee it’s light roast and fruity taste brings me to so many beautiful places 🙂
Nicholas Brown (verified owner) –
I mean it’s blueberry. Blueberry, so hot right now!
Modest just continues to knock it right out of the park. If you’re a mild coffee fan buy 2. You’ll thank yourself later!
Thanks for the abundant trips to flavor country!
Evan MacDonald (verified owner) –
Wow. Just wow. Almost punches you in the face with blueberry and plum flavors.
defmut (verified owner) –
One of the only coffees I like smelling more than drinking.
Caylee Kleber (verified owner) –
I just recently received my 5lb bag of this coffee. LET ME SAY I am NEVER disappointed in any coffee from Modest. In my humble opinion this coffee is superior to any coffee you will ever have. Needless to say I am obsessed and a forever customer of Modest Coffee. They sell their coffee out of Naperville farmers market and that is where the love began. I order a 5lb bag every month or so because I use an espresso machine and serve myself and others in the house this beautiful coffee daily. 5lbs is a great deal and lasts just long enough. I have had many different roasts and origins from them and again…. NEVER disappointed. Love what you guys do. Thank you.
Meghan Pokorny (verified owner) –
Holy guacamole this is good. Not a hint of sourness or bitterness, perfectly roasted. Even that last cold sip was tasty.
Maria Zaborina (verified owner) –
Excellent!
sparky (verified owner) –
Very very nice light roast. Deliciously smooth, sweet, and aromatic.