Complex sweetness and rounded mouthfeel, last even after cooling; brown sugar, creamy caramel, root beer, cinnamon.
This coffee comes from the northern Kivu area of Isale and is made up of coffees from three different Congo coffee processing sites under a privately ran coffee project called Virunga Coffee; Kahondo, Katanda and Mutendero. While this is technically North Kivu, it’s a bit more accurate to say that the sites are in closer proximity to Lake Mathews than Kivu proper, adjacent to the city of Butembo
Virunga’s primary goals have been to help increase production and the overall quality of the coffee through investment in infrastructure like wet mills and raised drying beds, farmer outreach and access to the global market. These three washing stations provide a coffee selling option to several hundred farmers in the region. Sweet Maria’s works closely with Virunga to bring coffee from this up-and-coming origins to the market with trust traceability in mind.
Farms range from 1500 to 1800 meters above sea level, coffee agriculture benefiting from high altitude and nutrient rich, volcanic soil. Farmers are growing Blue Mountain, a mutation of Typica first discovered in the Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. The Virunga Coffee group have also assisted with certifications (UTZ and Organic) that not only lend to sustainable agricultural practice, but also ensure an added price premium for the coffee.
This washed lot from DR Congo has a complex sweetness and rounded mouthfeel, and it last even cooling, sweetness even outstanding. The coffee isn’t particularly bright, but it does carry some light citrus, fruit accent notes that lead to a slightly fruited acidic impression, that reminds you it’s proximity to Ethiopian coffee which is famous of citrus tone. The grinds have a nice cinnamon-spiced brown sugar smell that carry over in to the wet aroma, along with some dried cherry. The cup has a vanilla bean note that adds a ‘creamy’ quality to the underlying caramel and raw sugar sweetness. Together, they coalesce in a flavor that has elements of root beer or cream soda, and the sweetness pulls through to the aftertaste.
- Origin: Congo
- Region: Isale, North Kivu
- Washing station: Virunga Coffee
- Altitude: 1500-1800m
- Cultivar: Blue Mountain
- Grade: Grade 1
- Processing: Wet Process (Washed)
- Drying method: Raised Bed Sun-Dried
- Importer: Sweet Maria’s Coffee