Daniel of Arabica
brew, drink, repeat
Posts Tagged ‘Africa’
First, let it bloom
The last of the Verve Burundi Bwayi blooming in the Chemex (click for the LG version).
Verve’s Burundi Bwayi
What if a Yirg & a Kenya ...?
I made a pilgrimage of sorts this week to Santa Cruz, CA for an opportunity to soak in the aura of a roaster who’s coffee I have been enjoying locally for some time now. I’ll leave my experience at their café for another post – that’s what the Café tramp series of posts are for – but Verve coffee roasters’ beans have left me impressed.
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area there are three cafés – each of which I have great respect for – that feature the coffees of Verve: Modern Coffee in Oakland, Sightglass in San Francisco and farm:table, also in San Francisco.
At each location the espresso blends, the single-origins are all just … well … well, hell, they’re just scrumptious. Flavor, flavor, flavor. Packed with it. Impressed.
They’ve all been interesting as well. “Interesting?”, you say? “What on earth are you talking about?”. I’m talking about individuality in flavor. Each Verve coffee I have had carries some unique flavor profile. Walnuts in one, sweet cane in something else, leather, cocoa and cardamom in another. So far, everything I’ve tasted from Verve has it.
But what about the Burundi ?..
Verve’s Burundi Bwayi – The short version …
if a Yirgacheffe and a Kenyan coffee had a love-child, well, this – Verve’s Burundi Bwayi – is what it would taste like.
… and a little bit longer one
On one hand, like a fine Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, Verve’s Burundi Bwayi has aromas of delicate oolong tea and fragrant flowers. On the other, there are traces of Kenya’s concentrated, molasses-like sugars and dark berry-like sweetness.
Where the Burundi Bwayi distinguishes itself, where it makes itself unique – like any good child should – is in it’s creamy mouthfeel, the slightly sweeter fruit-punch-like berry flavors that also make themselves known and it’s distinctively – for an African coffee – woody, earthy palate (almost Sumatra-like) that carries over into the long, dry finish. Top it all off with a sharp but pleasant, sort-of tart apple-like acidity and you’ve got another unique entry in the Verve lineup.
A little more info … for the truly geeky
Of interest to me was the fact that this was a wet processed African coffee. Wet processed – as opposed to dry processed – coffees are known for their clean, un-muddied flavors and crisp acidity. The tart-apple-like acidity of the Bwayi was not of particular surprise then. What was surprising was the almost Sumatra-like woody, earthy component.
If you look at the photo above (click it to make it larger) you’ll notice three terms at the very bottom of the bag: Bourbon, Jackson, Mibitzi. I was already aware that Bourbon referred to a particular coffea arabica variety. Bourbon is a popular and highly productive variety of coffea arabica that was planted by the French on the island of Bourbon (now Réunion) around 1708, mutated and was then planted throughout Brazil in the late 1800s (Wikipedia). Jackson and Mibitzi I was not familiar with. A little research revealed that both Jackson and Mibitzi are both Bourbon cultivars native to Rwanda and Burundi. Now you know.
Just the facts
Who: Verve Coffee Roasters What: Burundi Bwayi Wet Process When: Roasted on January 7th, 2010 Where: Santa Cruz, CA Why: I ♥ coffee How: Chemex
Verve pilgrimage
Made a Verve Pilgrimage of sorts today. Over the hill and through the woods of Santa Cruz to the house of Verve, I went. Delicious cappuccino with the Winter Streetlevel espresso blend. Laid back vibe. Beautiful roasting facility next door. Burundi Bwayi Tasting notes forthcoming. Click the images to see larger versions.
Shine, Kenya, shine
Kenyan coffee is under-appreciated. Or at least under-represented. Ethiopia is the darling of African coffees these days, to wit, the crazy-quilt-like ubiquity of “Wondos” and “Misty Valleys”. Look on the shelves – literal or virtual – of your favorite “coffee 3.0″1 roaster and chances are the African category is going to be dominated by one Ethiopian after another. I’m scratching my head on this one. Why is it, I wonder, that Kenyan coffee is so underrepresented?2 It’s certainly not an issue of quality. Kenya produces some of the finest beans on the market and has a highly sophisticated and well developed system for getting its beans out to that market3.
Given this imbalanced situation, it’s nice to see one of Kenya’s quality products get some time in the spotlight for once: Ritual Roasters in San Francisco has but one African coffee on their menu at the moment. And it’s a Kenya. Not only that but, as a part of their “Sweet Tooth” single-origin espresso program, they are offering it up by the shot as well as by the bag.
In the spotlight
The Kenya Karindundu on offer at Ritual was the “mystery coffee” I mentioned was present at the Friday cupping in which m’lady and I participated. At the time, the “mystery” designation was warranted, not by the lack of knowledge of the coffee’s name or place of origin, but by the lack of knowledge of how it was processed and what its growing conditions were. That shortfall has been somewhat cleared up, it seems, as Ritual’s page for the Karindundu illustrates; that this is a coffee grown at high altitudes – 2000m above sea level – and that its refined acidity and “exotic flavors” are a direct result of this4. I, myself – as did m’lady (no coffee slouch is she) – thought that this was one of finer Kenyas we have ever had the pleasure of tasting.
From the notes (in the press pot):
- sweet, syrupy, molasses fragrance
- gingerbread aroma
- dark berry
- “zingy” lemon acidity
- slight floral
- full body
The gingerbread aroma was the most surprising aspect of the cup but this may need a bit of an explanation: I’m not talking about an intense hit of crystallized ginger (although, wow, wouldn’t that have been interesting) but a more general flavor – that dovetails with the molasses – of a dark, sweet bread. The dark berry flavors were reminiscent of ripe Bing cherries.
The flavors are concentrated. That was another trademark of this coffee: intensity. The sweetness of this cup was not of the cloying, candy-like variety but tipped more toward the dark sweetness of molasses and raw sugar. Let’s call it a “mature” sweetness.
The acidity was wonderful. Kenyan coffees are known for their brightness, especially when compared to coffee from Ethiopia. I have tasted Kenyans that, after a few sips, were fatiguing for my tongue. Think sour worm candies – or many Costa Rican coffees, for that matter – and that cotton-mouth feeling you get after too much acid has taken its toll on your tongue. The acidity of the Karindundu, though, was well developed and incredibly enjoyable. Its presence was marked at every sip but was well integrated into the cup. No fatigue here. Lemony too. Yumm5.
Gimmee a “K”!…
It’s nice to see Kenya getting some attention. I am curious why Ethiopia is so dominant on the shelves of many of the 3.0 roasters especially considering Kenya’s reputation for quality but I will take what I can get. It’s wonderful, though, that, at least in the case of Ritual Roaster’s Kenya Karindundu, what I can get is such a unique and enjoyable cup.
Where to get it
The usual suspects:
- In the mission at 1026 Valencia St in San Francisco.
- In the Bayview in Flora Grubb Gardens at 1634 Jerrold Ave in San Francisco.
- In Napa at The Oxbow Public Market.
- Online.
Footnotes
- Quick, somebody get my lawyer on the phone. I smell a trademark. [↩]
- Sounds like a subject in need of further study…and possibly a good idea for another post… [↩]
- Thompson Owen, of Sweet Maria’s, penned a rich and descriptive travelogue of his recent buying trip to Kenya. Combined with their Kenya page they offer a wealth of information about Kenya, its quality and well developed auction system. [↩]
- I imagine more general information about how Kenyan coffees are processed can be found at Sweet Maria’s but my curiosity is piqued about Karindundu’s specific processing [↩]
- Official tasting term [↩]
Bikes To Rwanda
Bikes To Rwanda’s mission statement: “Bikes To Rwanda’s aim is to provide cargo bicycles to co-operative coffee farmers in Rwanda. The goal is to improve quality of life in these communities through a bike workshop and maintenance program that provides transportation resources for basic needs and enhances production of quality coffee.”
Higher quality bicycles. Indeed.
Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco recently held a fundraiser/bike race for BTR.
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