[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.7″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/Burundi_Rwanda_Header.png” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro” _builder_version=”3.7″ text_orientation=”justified” text_font=”Raleway||||||||” text_font_size=”15px”]<\/p>\n
The two tiny Central African countries of Burundi and Rwanda could practically be a geographical Venn diagram, despite the actual political border that separates them.<\/strong> Both are landlocked countries and among the smallest on the continent; and their cultural histories are both informed by the three ethnic groups they share, the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa people. If you visit a household in either country, you are likely to be welcomed in and served a plate of ugali,<\/em> a porridge-like staple made from boiled cornmeal or flour with water or milk.<\/p>\n They are also both relatively remote compared to the rest of the coffee-producing world: Burundi has one of the lowest telephone densities on earth, while in Rwanda, roughly 13 out of every 100 people had access to the Internet as late as 2015. This last point is one of the reasons that visiting producers and export partners there is so significant, while also being one of the things that makes it hard to do so.<\/p>\n For all the similarities between them, however\u2014including the simple fact that coffee is a primary source of foreign revenue for both\u2014the two countries are distinct to us as origins despite very often getting lumped together in the same breath (or on the same coffee menu), with basically identical descriptors and a \u201cgeneral\u201d regional profile that belies the diversity of profile and of process that exists in each.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.7″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/DSC00606-1.jpg” align=”center” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Climate and landscape” _builder_version=”3.7″ text_orientation=”justified” text_font=”Raleway||||||||” text_font_size=”15px”]<\/p>\n Of course, since coffee is the main draw for us to these beautiful places, (and, we assume, for you as well), we\u2019ll start there in this snapshot from origin. Green-coffee buyer Claudia Bellinzoni<\/a>, whose focus is in sourcing African coffees for Cafe Imports, recently visited both countries to deepen existing relationships and seek new ones, cupping through type samples and microlot offerings in search of the best of what is on offer this year. While they share a relatively similar harvest season within the same \u201csemester,\u201d Rwanda\u2019s and Burundi\u2019s different topography and climate causes some variation: Rwanda\u2019s season had ended a few weeks before Burundi\u2019s, which was just about in full swing during early June.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Climate and landscape Claudia” _builder_version=”3.7″ text_orientation=”justified” text_font=”Raleway||||||||” text_font_size=”15px”]<\/p>\n \u201cWhere Rwanda is more like hills and volcanos and bamboo forests, in Burundi you have more mountains,\u201d Claudia says, supposing that the higher altitudes in Burundi might slow the ripening of cherry there. They are also on very different prominent bodies of water, which will have climate and harvest implications as well: Rwanda on Lake Kivu, and Burundi on Tanganyika Lake, \u201cwhich is a gem, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d she says. (Claudia also chuckles that, \u201cIn Burundi they say the source of the Nile is in Burundi, but in Rwanda they say it begins in Rwanda.\u201d)<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Cup quality + characteristics” _builder_version=”3.7″ text_orientation=”justified” text_font=”Raleway||||||||” text_font_size=”15px”]<\/p>\n Because of this slight delay between the harvests, Claudia was cupping microlots in Rwanda but would have to wait a few weeks for the cream of Burundi\u2019s crop. Still, she found plenty to feel excited about: In Rwanda, she was scoring between 87\u201390 on the table, saying, \u201cI wrote many times \u2018apricot,\u2019 cherry, floral, sweet vanilla, coriander, orange or mandarin, very floral and very citrus. Spice like cinnamon, some honey, some caramel, and some tropical or dried fruit.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI cupped almost 30 cups, and they were averaging 88 points,\u201d she says. \u201cTo be honest, I should have gone even higher. And that was cupped with bad water, because they use terrible water in Rwanda for cupping,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.7″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/DSC00616.jpg” max_width=”80%” align=”center” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Cup quality + characteristics 2″ _builder_version=”3.7″ text_orientation=”justified” text_font=”Raleway||||||||” text_font_size=”15px”]<\/p>\n