Burundi — Umoco Washing Station Busambo Red Bourbon (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍬 Candied Plum • 🍋 Citrus • 🍐 Quince

DETAILS

• Station: Umoco Washing Station
• Region: Kayanza, Burundi
• Varietal: Red Bourbon
• Process: Washed (Double Fermentation)
• Altitude: 1,800–2,100 MASL
• Harvest: June 2025

INTRO

A brilliant expression of Kayanza at its sweetest — Flower Child's top Red Bourbon selection from Busambo this season, and one of their favourite Burundian lots of the year. Super bright, glossy, and complex, with a dynamic that shifts beautifully as the cup cools. In the cup: candied plum, citrus, and quince, with loquat, apple, apricot, pink grapefruit, and undertones of dried fruit and cacao woven throughout.

THE PRODUCER

Busambo is a community in Kayanza province — one of Burundi's most celebrated coffee-growing regions, where producers cultivate Red Bourbon on small hillside plots, often without fertilisers due to their cost, growing coffee alongside bananas, maize, cassava, and beans as subsistence crops. Cherries are delivered to the Umoco washing station — named after the Kirundi word for "light" — on foot, by bicycle, or by motorcycle, where they are processed with meticulous care.

Burundi is a small, landlocked nation in East Africa with a deep coffee tradition. The Burundian government legally requires that only Bourbon be produced, making this one of the few origins where varietal integrity is enforced at a national level. Red Bourbon — one of the most culturally and genetically important Arabica varieties in the world — thrives in the volcanic soils and high-altitude conditions of Kayanza, producing the pronounced sweetness, bright acidity, and refined fruit complexity that define the region's finest lots.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Umoco involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Ripe Red Bourbon cherries selectively harvested and delivered to the station 🧪 First wet fermentation — Fermented for 12 hours in water 🧪 Second fermentation — Transferred to cement tanks for a further 12 hours of fermentation 💧 Washing — Thoroughly washed after fermentation to remove all mucilage ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Dried on traditional African raised beds for 20–25 days

The double fermentation is the defining step — two consecutive 12-hour fermentation phases, first in water and then in cement tanks, build the layered complexity, bright acidity, and clean sweetness that define Busambo's best lots, while the extended raised-bed drying locks in the glossy, well-structured finish that makes this cup so dynamic from hot to cool.

THE CUP

A complex, glossy, and brilliantly sweet washed Red Bourbon from one of Kayanza's most carefully processed washing stations — candied plum and quince sweetness, sunshine-bright citrus acidity, and a layered dried fruit and cacao depth that rewards attention as the cup evolves. Burundian Red Bourbon at its most joyful and expressive.

Flavour Notes

🍬 Candied Plum 🍋 Citrus 🍐 Quince