As Ian says below, it's always fun to dark roast African coffees, as the components provide plenty of complexity, and the darker roast enhances the body and sweetness. We love all three of these coffees on their own at lighter roasts, and with this Extra Bold profile the flavor balance is truly exceptional.

Ibisi Mountain, Rwanda
The first blend component is from the Ibisi Mountain washing station, which sits within the hills of Southern Rwanda, located a short drive from the Nyungwe Forest, a national park known for its incredible biodiversity. Here, local farmer Bernard Uwitije focused primarily on producing commodity (non-specialty) coffee until 2015, when he realized the potential for processing fully-washed specialty coffees in partnership with Rwanda Trading Company.

Currently, Bernard operates sixteen wet mills and works directly with farmers throughout Rwanda – buying, milling, processing and marketing their coffees – while investing in producing communities through agribusiness training programs. Since 2013, these programs, which focus on cultivation innovation and reducing costs of production, have resulted in an 86 percent increase in farm revenue for producer-partners. It’s a highly collaborative effort, which fuels sustainable economic stability from the ground up.

Mapendo, Congo
The next component of the blend, named Mapendo for the Swahili word for "love", comes from the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo - the other side of Lake Kivu from the Ibisi Mountain. We purchased it through Mighty Peace, a direct impact coffee importer that only works in Congo. Grown by members of the larger Coopérative Agricole Muunganno in the South Kivu province, this coffee is one of sixteen distinct lots grown by 297 smallholder farmers, nearly 44% of those farmers are women.

Mighty Peace recognizes the need to reclaim the narrative of the Congo and of Congolese coffee, and spread the word to coffee-consuming countries - in fact, it's one of their founding principles to build up media resources so that these stories from Congolese coffee farmers can be shared.

One such resource is the video above, where Linda Mugaruka, Mighty Peace Coffee’s Chief Quality Officer and Agronomy Engineer, educates coffee farmers on specialty coffee techniques, which helps them to produce high-quality coffee consistently, year after year. The farmers featured in the video are from both the Coopérative Agricole Muunganno cooperative and from a neighboring cooperative called AMKA, which is about a 2 hour drive from the Muunganno co-op. The farmers in the photos to the right are all from Muuganno.

Nyankurazo, Burundi
This coffee was grown and harvested by several farmers within the Nyankurazo community in northern Burundi, on the border with Rwanda. It was processed at the Nkanda washing station, which is run by Pierre Nzeyimana and his three sons. Pierre started the washing station after working for more than 10 years in other washing stations in Burundi, and now just over 1,200 farmers from the commune of Tangara contribute to Nkanda.

In Burundi, the traditional method of processing coffee after harvest is different from other neighboring countries. Coffee is typically allowed to rest for up to 36 hours in two sessions known as double-fermentation: 12 - 18 hours dry followed by 12 - 18 hours wet. This additional rest before drying adds to this coffee's fruit flavors and sparkling acidity. It is then dried on raised tables for 15 to 20 days.