CKK | CONGO KALUNGU-BIRAMBO LAKE KIVU
PROFILE#4: Bold | Medium-dark roast
Tasting Notes: Dark Chocolate, Brown Sugar, Cola
IT ALL STARTS AT THE COFFEE FARM
This coffee is from the Democratic Republic of Congo which borders Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. Congo is a newer origin when it comes to specialty coffee. 90 farmers of the Kalungu-Birambo micro washing-station contributed to this lot. These farmers are part of SOPACDI (Solidarité Paysanne pour la Promotion des Actions Café et Development Intégral), an organization comprised of more than 5600 farmers, roughly 20 percent of whom are women, located near Lake Kivu. Each farmer has a very small area of farmland for coffee (fewer than 2 hectares on average), and tenders cherries to SOPACDI through the organization's 10 collection subgroups.
TRACEABILITY
COUNTRY
Congo
PRODUCER
90 smallholder farmers
REGION
Birambo, South Kivu
VARIETAL
Blue Mountain, Bourbon etc
PROCESSING
Washed
ALTITUDE
2000 masl
DID YOU KNOW
SOPACDI was the first to achieve Fair Trade certification in Congo, and the Varietal: Blue Mountain, Bourbon etc coffee also carries organic certification. Members of the cooperative represent several different ethnic groups, speaking Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, and Kihavu, and many of the women members are widows.
PRICE TRANSPARENCY
$3.73
Price paid by Driftaway (per pound avg. across Feb 2020 coffees)
$1.43
Fair Trade price per pound
$1.18
Coffee C-Market price per pound
$0.05
Driftaway's World Coffee Research contribution per pound
This coffee travelled 7,009 miles to the Driftaway Coffee roastery in Brooklyn.
Love the coffee? You can share your compliments & tasting observations with the farmers.
WHY DID WE SELECT THIS COFFEE?
This month in the Bold profile we are offering a Congolese coffee from the Kalungu-Birambo Washing Station of the SOPACDI Co-op. We roasted a Congo from the SOPACDI co-op in January in the Fruity Profile. What is really amazing is how a whole new side to a coffee from the same origin country comes out when it is roasted darker.
AVERAGE CUPPING SCORE
85.50
/100
86
SCAA Cupping Score
20 x 60 kg
Bags purchased
2 years
Length of producer relationship
100% (in 2020)
Transparent coffees purchased
HOW DID WE ROAST THIS COFFEE?
This coffee is being roasted by Dave H. from Mar 29 to Apr 19, 2020 at Pulley Collective in Red Hook, Brooklyn. We typically use the Loring S35 Kestrel roaster for this profile - this roaster roasts the beans through convection (heated air) roasting. We have strict guidelines for each of the coffee profiles, and this roast has to pass the development time ratio test as measured in real-time by the roasting software, Cropster. Once it does, it is approved for production.
QUALITY CONTROL
We perform Quality Control via a process of coffee tasting called cupping on all of our production roasts twice a week at our facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Cupping is attended by Q-certified cupper Ian T., roaster Dave H.and founder Suyog M. All coffees are evaluated on a scoring scale of 0 to 3.
- 3.0 = exceptional roast - exceeds expectations
- 2.5 = on par with profile - matches expectations
- 2.0 = good roast, but 1 or 2 elements could be improved - needs improvement
- 1.5 or lower = failed - do not ship
AT YOUR HOME
Brew this coffee with your favorite home brewer and enjoy the taste of incredible coffee! Here are a few tips on how to make the best coffee on each brewer.
View other posts about how to make better coffee at home on our blog Coffeecademy.