Our second lot from the Izuba washing station is a stunner. The water pillow anoxic process (more on this later), enriches the classic Burundian taste profile with a fruit forward layer, making this a super complex yet balanced coffee. This results in a rich cup with notes of white tropical fruits, cranberry and black tea.

Izuba meaning “sun” in Kirundi, is located in the Kayanza Province. The Izuba washing station is set close to a nearby river, providing a vital and regular freshwater source for coffee processing. The station is situated near to the Kibira national park, where the soil and climate are paired well for fantastic coffee production.

The water pillow anoxic process was developed by Miguel Fajardo Mendoza from Raw Material at El Fenix in Colombia. This process aims to simplify the now complicated fermentation techniques while making them accessible to anyone wanting to improve the quality of their coffee. Advanced fermentation usually involves expensive equipment and complex processes. In order to make this accessible, they asked themselves ‘what are the simple things that every producer has on hand that we can use?’  A tub or tank, some plastic sheeting and a little water. It seems almost too simplistic, but it works (and like all simple things are the result of years of trial and error). So how does it work? It's pretty simple;

• - First, attach a tap or make a small hole in the bottom of your tub, this allows some of the fermentation juices to escape helping to maintain the fermentation substrate and adds clarity to the acidity..

• - Next, add your coffee, as cherry or pulped depending on whether you’re going to dry as a natural or washed coffee, floated to remove lower density beans.

• - Take the plastic sheeting and place it over the coffee allowing it to extend above the top of the tub.

• - Fill the rest of the tub with water. 

The sheet provides a barrier between the water and the coffee and is thin enough to allow the water to fill the shape of the tub, forming a pillow of water above the coffee. In doing so the water can serve two functions; firstly it creates an anoxic fermentation environment, one low in free molecular oxygen. Secondly, the water in this state acts as a large heatsink, to draw heat away from the fermenting coffee, which regulates the risk of developing off flavours and also aids in prolonging shelf life.  

The following years, this process wat extensively put to the test at and when the samples were milled the results were astounding, adding layers of complexity and flavour. The years of refining the process at El Fenix had achieved their goal, a complex process reduced to something simple enough to implement anywhere in the world.