Burundi Kibingo AA

Kibingo is one of the better-known washing stations in Kayanza, the northern Burundian province that runs up to the Rwandan border, and it serves around 1,700 smallholder families. Most grow a couple of hundred Red Bourbon trees in their own gardens on the volcanic slopes, at altitudes reaching about 1,900 metres. AA marks out the largest, densest beans in the lot.

Bourbon is the whole story here. It is the variety much of East Africa planted when quality was the point, and it gives the clean, composed sweetness Burundi does so well: pear and stone fruit over brown-sugar sweetness, with a black tea finish.

Roasters who buy Burundi tend to talk about it as one of the continent's underpriced origins, and lots like this are exactly why. Keep the roast light to medium, because clarity is the point of the coffee.