LCC Roastery

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June 2, 2022

Burundi Kabarore Commune Yandaro

honey and raw sugar sweetness, hints of cantaloupe, mild yellow tea, fresh peach and apricot, and elegant acidity connects the sweetness to a brisk tea-like finish.

Yandaro Station is a coffee cherry collection site located in Kayanza, Burundi’s northern province that borders neighboring Rwanda. The station itself is in the Kabarore Commune, which it serves, but also is a central coffee cherry delivery site for 22 of the surrounding villages. Farmers grow older bourbon types, the original coffee cultivar introduced to the area in the 1930s by Catholic monks traveling from the island of Reunion. Yandaro sits at just under 1800 meters above sea level, and many of the farmers have coffee planted much higher than this.

Yandaro was built in the mid 1980s, a time when the World Bank was investing heavily in Burundi’s coffee sector, building out washing stations like Yandaro to serve the surrounding coffee communities. More recently they’ve come under the direction of a Burundi coffee investment group who are able to offer Yandaro, and several other Kayanza stations (Kibingo is another), agronomical assistance to station members, regular maintenance of washing station equipment and drying beds, and management teams who follow the coffee deliveries from cherry selection, to keeping lots separated by quality tiers. Since partnering with this group, several of the stations have seen top placement in Burundi coffee competitions, including Yandaro placing 7th and 19th in recent Burundi Cup of Excellence competitions.

Cupping Notes:

Yandaro’s dry fragrance has a scent of raw cane sugars with notes of vanilla, honey butter, maple syrup, and a peach hint. Pouring hot water draws out the sweetness even more and you catch whiffs of orange honey and dark brown sugar in the steam, along with a nice floral blossom aroma. As a brew, City and City+ roasts flood the cup and a wide range of unrefined sweetness, along with fruited, and tea-like hints throughout that go so well together. Lemon-citrus brightness compliments the raw sugar sweetness, and elegant acidity connects the sweetness up front to a brisk tea-like aftertaste. The cup has a delicate honey note at City roast level, accented by hints of ripe cantaloupe, mild yellow tea, and a fresh stone fruit note in the aftertaste (peach/apricot came to mind). Full City roasts insert milk and dark chocolate flavors into the profile, with a much more mild acidic impression. These more developed roasts still have fruited accents like dark grape and raisin, with malted milk balls, and blackjack/caramelized sugar in the aftertaste.