This month's roast of the month is a stellar single origin from Olympia Coffee Roasting.
We were immediately taken by this Burundi. Coffees from the region can be very hit or miss. Natural process Burundis tend to taste extremely strong, to some presenting sour, stale notes. While we definitely didn't find that to be the case with Olympia's Gitwe Natural, we love the Honey processed version even more.
A Study in Processing
Honey processing is a middle ground between washed and natural processing. Washed processing involves removing all of the fruit from the plant, then cleaning the beans with water. This gives you the purest taste of the beans themselves, without any fruit adding to the flavor. By contrast, a natural process means leaving fruit on the beans through processing, causing the beans to absorb some of that flavor. In a honey process, fruit is partially removed, and the remaining plant is left to sun dry. This processing results in a flavor somewhere between a natural and wash processed coffee. You still get the fruity flavor, which manifests in the cherry and pomegranate notes of this roast, but without the bite of a natural. This allows the richness (represented here by notes of rum) of the beans to come through without being dashed by heavy sweetness.
Order While You Can!
The only downside to this roast is how limited it is! As with any single origin, when it's gone, it's gone, and Olympia has already completed roasting for this one. Grab a bag
here! It's worth noting too that while we did love the honey process version, all of Olympia's Burundis this season satisfy. If you can't (or even if you can!) get ahold of a back of Gitwe Honey, be sure to check out the natural and washed versions as well.
Check back with us next month for more roasts of the month!
