When it comes to selecting raw coffees, I’d recommend making sure what you’re buying is genuinely traceable (see sections on individual countries for guidance). I’d also recommend occasionally buying green coffee from a company that sells the same coffee roasted. This will allow you to benchmark your own roasting by comparing your roasted beans with the commercially roasted beans to see how you are progressing.
HOME-ROASTING MACHINES
It is possible to roast coffee in almost anything that generates enough heat: you can put raw coffee on a baking sheet and bake it in the oven until browned, but the results will be pretty terrible. The coffee will be unevenly roasted, and the part of the coffee in contact with the tray may be scorched. Roasting this way highlights the need for the movement and agitation of coffee beans during the roasting process, to get an even result. Roasting coffee in a wok is possible, but the amount of stirring required quickly makes the process tiresome and frustrating.
Many people start out with something a bit more sophisticated, like using a heat gun and agitating the coffee beans regularly as they roast, or using a modified electric popcorn machine. Second-hand popcorn machines can be acquired cheaply and do a reasonable job of roasting coffee: they will usually roast a small batch of coffee quite quickly – in around four or five minutes – but they don’t do a great job of producing even results at lighter roasts. People who prefer darker, more developed roasts seem to have more success with them. Bear in mind that this is not the use these machines were designed for, and some models may not have enough power to roast coffee properly.
If you really want to roast coffee at home successfully, you will need a machine specifically designed for the purpose. Start small and decide if you enjoy the ritual, the regularity of it and the overall process. Starting this way is easy and fun, and there is no regret if you decide you would rather leave this part of the process to the professionals.
There are two main types of machine available to the home roaster: hot-air roasters and drum roasters.
HOT-AIR ROASTERS
Hot-air roasters mimic, on a much smaller scale, commercial fluid-bed roasters (see Types of Coffee Roasters). They work rather like powerful popcorn poppers: the hot air agitates and moves the beans around in the roasting chamber to produce an even roast, as well as providing the necessary heat to turn them brown. You have some level of control over the amount of heat and the fan speed, so you can speed up or slow down the process as necessary. Cheaper than drum roasters, these machines are a great starting point for someone looking to dip a toe in the home roasting process.
Some machines do a better job than others of dealing with the smoke and smells produced during roasting, but I would still recommend roasting in a well-ventilated area. However, if you roast outside and it is very cold, roasting times may be slower than you want.
THE PERFECT ROAST
Ideally, a roast in a hot-air roaster should last for eight to twelve minutes. Drum roasts tend to be a little slower, more like ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the size of the batch of coffee. If the resulting coffee tastes very bitter, you may have roasted too dark. If it lacks flavours and sweetness, you may have roasted too slowly. If it tastes very sour, astringent and grassy, you have probably roasted the coffee too quickly. A combination of lots of tasting and a little trial and error is a healthy part of the process and will allow you to understand your own preferences more and more.
DRUM ROASTERS
Home drum roasters are similar in design to commercial drum roasters, but they are not built with the same quality and weight of materials. The coffee is tumbled around in a heated drum, which is designed to keep the beans moving to allow even browning.
Some drum machines offer more programming functions, allowing you to create your own roast profiles. The intensity of the heat can be varied throughout the roast, and the machine can automate the process to allow easy replication of your favourite roasts.
Like any new hobby, roasting coffee beans at home will have some failures and surprise successes, but is worth trying if you want to experiment with tasting a range of green coffees.
BURUNDI
Coffee came to Burundi in the 1920s under Belgian colonial rule, and from 1933 every peasant farmer had to cultivate at least fifty coffee trees. When Burundi gained its independence in 1962, coffee production went private. This changed in 1972, along with the political climate, but since 1991 coffee has slowly been returning to the private sector.
Coffee growing had been increasing steadily, but the civil war in 1993 caused a precipitous drop in production. Since then, efforts have been made to increase both production and the value of coffee in Burundi. Investment in the industry is seen as crucial, as Burundi’s economy has been shattered by conflict. In 2011 Burundi had one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world with ninety per cent of the population relying on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea exports combined make up approximately ninety per cent of total foreign exchange earnings. Coffee production is recovering, but has not yet reached the levels of the early 1980s. However, there is hope for coffee in Burundi. With 650,000 families dependent on the crop, movements towards higher prices through improvement of quality can only be a good thing. However, the constant fear of political instability returning looms large.
Burundi’s geography is well suited to coffee. Much of it is mountainous, providing the necessary altitudes and climates. There are no coffee estates in Burundi, instead coffee is produced by large numbers of smallholder farmers. Recently these producers have become more organized, usually centring around one of the 160 washing stations in the country. Around two-thirds of these washing stations are under state ownership, the others are privately owned. Anything from several hundred up to two thousand producers feed their coffee into each washing station.
Within each region, these stations are grouped together into SOGESTALs (Sociétés de Gestion des Stations de Lavage), which are effectively management organizations for groups of washing stations. Development of quality in recent years has been directed through these organizations, mainly through the provision of better infrastructure in their regions.
The best coffees from Burundi are fully washed and usually made up of the Bourbon variety, though other varieties are grown. In many ways there are similarities between Burundi and its neighbour Rwanda: the countries have similar altitudes and coffee varieties, and both face the challenges of being landlocked, which can hinder the rapid export necessary for the raw coffee to arrive in the consuming countries in good condition. As in Rwanda, coffees in Burundi are also susceptible to the potato defect.
TRACEABILITY
Until recently, the coffees from all the washing stations within each SOGESTAL were blended together. This meant that coffees exported from Burundi were only traceable back to their SOGESTAL, which is effectively their region of origin.
In 2008 Burundi began to embrace the speciality coffee sector, allowing more direct and traceable purchasing. In 2011 there was a coffee quality competition in Burundi called the Prestige Cup, a precursor to the more established Cup of Excellence. The lots from individual washing stations were kept separate and ranked on quality, then they were sold at auction with their traceability intact. This means that we are likely to see more unique and interesting coffees coming out of Burundi in the future and there is great potential for quality.
Coffee pickers bring their harvest to be washed in Kayanza, Burundi.
TASTE PROFILE
Great coffees from Burundi can have complex berry fruit flavours, and a great juicy quality.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 11,179,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 351,000
Burundi is such a small country that it doesn’t really have distinct growing areas. Coffee grows right across the country, wherever there is suitable land and altitude. The country is divided into provinces, and coffee farms are clustered around the washing stations (wet mills) there.
BUBA
NZA
This region is in the northwest of Burundi.
Altitude:
average of 1,350m (4,400ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
BUJUMBURA RURAL
Located in western Burundi.
Altitude:
average of 1,400m (4,600ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
BURURI
This southwestern province contains three of Burundi’s national parks.
Altitude:
average of 1,550m (5,050ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
CIBITOKE
This province is in the very northwest of Burundi, close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Altitude:
average of 1,450m (4,750ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
GITEGA
This central region contains one of the two state-owned dry mills, used for the final stages of preparation and quality control before export.
Altitude:
average of 1,450m (4,750ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
KARUZI
This region is slightly west of central Burundi.
Altitude:
average of 1,600m (5,200ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
KAYANZA
This northern region, near the Rwandan border, has the second highest number of stations.
Altitude:
average of 1,700m (5,600ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
KIRUNDO
This region is in the northernmost part of the country.
Altitude:
average of 1,500m (4,900ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
MAKAMBA
One of the most southerly provinces in Burundi.
Altitude:
average of 1,550m (5,050ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
MURAMVYA
A small region in the central part of the country.
Altitude:
average of 1,800m (5,900ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
MUYINGA
This region borders Tanzania in the northeastern part of the country.
Altitude:
average of 1,600m (5,200ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
MWARO
Another small region in the middle of the country.
Altitude:
Average of 1,700m (5,600ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
NGOZI
The most concentrated region for coffee production, in the north of the country, with 25 per cent of the washing stations.
Altitude:
average of 1,650m (5,400ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
RUTANA
This region is in southern Burundi, west of Mount Kiziki. It has one washing station.
Number of washing stations: 1
Altitude:
average of 1,550m (5,050ft)
Harvest:
April–July
Varieties:
Bourbon, Jackson, Mibrizi and some SL varieties
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Coffee was introduced to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1881 from Liberia, but it wasn’t until Belgian colonists discovered a new variety growing there in 1898 that agricultural production began. Despite its tumultuous history, the DRC is now considered an up-and-coming producer of speciality coffees. Many have high hopes for its potential in the future, but significant challenges have yet to be faced.
The plant discovered in Belgian Congo in 1898 was a variety of Coffea canephora, which the colonists named ‘Robusta’ to promote its hardy nature. Coffee production started to gain momentum on plantations under the brutal rule of the Belgian colonists. The vast majority of coffee was produced on these estates, rather than by smallholders, until independence in 1960. Until this point, agriculture, including coffee production, was well funded and supported, with 26 research stations in the country and 300 professionals working inside the Institut National pour l’Etude Agronomique du Congo Belge (the national institute for agricultural studies in the Belgian Congo).
After independence in 1960, government funding was reduced and in the 1970s the plantations began to decline, in part due to the marginalization of non-nationals and in part due to a lack of infrastructure. By 1987, only 14 per cent of the coffee produced in the DRC came from estates, and by 1996 only two per cent. However, coffee production had boomed in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of the free market, and the government had tried to sustain the industry in the late 1980s by reducing tariffs on exports.
The 1990s was a brutal decade for the country and the coffee sector. The First and Second Congo Wars, spanning the period from 1996 to 2003, triggered a decline in production, which was further exacerbated by the spread of coffee wilt disease. The high production levels of the late 1980s and early 1990s dropped to less than half. Coffee wilt primarily affected only Robusta production, but this made up the vast majority of the coffee produced in the DRC.
Infrastructure in the country still poses a huge challenge. There are hopes that coffee can be a part of the economic revival of the DRC, as it struggles to move past the recent violence. Both the government and outside NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have invested heavily in the sector and there is increasing interest in the country’s potential for excellent coffee. The soil, altitude and climate of parts of the DRC lend themselves to the production of truly exceptional coffees, and they are worth seeking out and supporting.
A man washes ripe coffee beans in Kivu. Coffee from the DRC disappeared from the international coffee market for many years, but attempts to revitalize production are underway.
TRACEABILITY
Almost all coffee in the DRC is produced by groups of smallholders or cooperatives. It is extremely unlikely that you will find a single estate, and less likely still that they will produce excellent coffee.
Sacks of Congolese coffee being prepared for export in 1911. At the time, the country was under Belgian colonial rule.
TASTE PROFILE
The very best coffees from the DRC have a delightful fruitiness, are sweet and can be pleasingly full-bodied.
GROWING REGIONS
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 82,243,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 335,000
Some regions of the DRC mostly grow Robusta, others mostly grow Arabica, and some grow a mixture of the two.
KIVU
Kivu comprises three provinces:
Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Maniema, all surrounding Lake Kivu, after which the region is named. The higher altitude areas in Kivu grow t
he best coffee in the country, mainly Arabica, so these are worth seeking out.
Altitude:
1,460–2,000m (4,800–6,560ft)
Harvest:
October–September
Varieties:
Mostly Bourbon
ORIENTAL
A small amount of Arabica is also grown in this eastern region of the country, but it is mostly Robusta here.
Altitude:
1,400–2,200m (4,600–7,200ft)
Harvest:
October–September
Varieties:
Robusta and Bourbon
KONGO CENTRAL
Formerly Bas-Congo, this very westernmost point of the country does produce some coffee, but it is all Robusta.
Harvest:
March–June
The World Atlas of Coffee: From beans to brewing - coffees explored, explained and enjoyed Page 12
