Gaharo Hills is one of a couple of hills or ‘collines’ as they call it, in lovely Burundi. This landlocked country is sandwiched between Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has the perfect landscape for growing coffee on with the average altitude of farms being between 1700 – 2100 MASL. These Muyange & Nkongwe Gaharo Hill beans are from an altitude on the higher end of that scale at 2000 MASL.
Though not as famous for its coffee as its neighbour, Rwanda, after arriving only in the 1930s, coffee has raised to be Burundi’s #1 export with gold following in a close second. What makes Burundi’s coffee different from Rwanda’s – and possibly better, is that their washed coffees are often ‘double fermented’. This means that they spend way more time soaking in water which results in a unique flavour, really clean, balanced taste.
Photo: Alexander Hansen, longmilescoffeeproject.com
Across the country, nearly all of the coffee is of the Bourbon variety. They are all hand-picked harvested, pulped, fermented, washed and patio dried to the same standard across the board. The brilliant and complex flavours are evidence of the expert knowledge and handling of the soil, elevation, rainfall, temperature, and humidity by the dedicated farmers.
From these beans you should expect melons, pomegranates and red berry notes that are joint by subtle hints of dark chocolate and caramels which balance out those sweet fruits!
Specialty coffees from Burundi are simply amazing and while they are hard to come by in Australia, when I can get my hands on some, I jump at the chance!
You can get yourself some Burundi beans to try here!
