Burundi - Rotheca Project
about the station.
Angèle Ciza, was born and raised on a coffee farm in the northern Kirundo region and committed her life to uplifting women in coffee and highlighting the potential of specialty coffee in Burundi. In 1996 she became the first woman to own a coffee export business. She quickly encountered the challenges of creating long term impacts through the established auction system. The more Angèle Ciza battled these challenges the more determined she became to work directly with producers at the farm level.
The next step came in 2008 when Ciza established her own coffee estate, SHAMBA, in her home town in Kirundo. She planted 40,000 Bourbon trees. Producing coffee became a link to understanding the possibilities of specialty growing, harvesting, sorting and processing practices.
As Ciza sought to expand her export business and collaborate directly with coffee producers in 2012 she took the bold leap of establishing Kalico, short for Kahawa Link Company. Together with her friend Consolata Ndayishimiye, Ciza purchased several washing stations in the northeastern provinces of Kirundo and Muyinga. Kalico was established to elevate the profile of specialty coffee from Burundi and centres its mission around valuing the contribution of women. Over 70% of the farmers that Kalico works with are women and they provide vital supplies to farmers to support their success.
Beyond purchasing cherries from farmers Kalico invests continually in training, environmental protection, micro-finance, and other social causes such as a scholarship program to pay for school fees for young girls and employing women with disabilities to produce the jute bags used to package the green coffee.
Sadly Angèle Ciza passed away in 2022, but her legacy and tremendous impact live on in Kalico’s incredible work with coffee producers in Burundi. The company is now managed by Ciza’s son, Alexandre Shaka Mugisha. Kalico operates seven washing stations that serve thousands of producers and produces washed, honey and natural processed coffees.
This is the fourth year that our friends at Swiss Water have featured this coffee through supporting the Rotheca Project: an initiative between Kalico, Phyllis Johnson of BD Imports, and Montreal’s RGC importers. This project was organized to combat poverty and support women-produced coffee in Burundi.
about the coffee.
This lot comes from the Kigobe Washing Station in the Kirundo province where Angèle Ciza was born. The station is located at 1700 masl and gathers cherries from approximately 600 smallholder farmers from the Tugwizikawa “Let’s Rise Coffee” Cooperative. In keeping with Kalico’s philosophy of empowering women in coffee production, almost all the women from the town of Kigobe participate in the coffee production, processing and development of the cooperative.
The majority of Arabica coffee from Burundi is the famous Bourbon varietal. This was one of the first varieties transferred from Yemen to the island of Bourbon (now La Réunion). From here, it was moved around the world, making it one of the best known and most cross-bred varieties of coffee. Known for its high cup quality Bourbon is typically sweet and balanced with pleasant fruit flavours. This lot is a naturally processed Red Bourbon. Ripe cherries are delivered to the station and immediately washed and sorted for quality. The ripest cherries are moved to raised drying beds where they are frequently raked to ensure even drying. The result is a sweet and vibrant cup with both ripe red fruit and chocolate notes.
Swiss Water in Delta, BC is a global leader in chemical-free decaffeination. Their proprietary Swiss Water Process uses only water to remove 99.9% of the caffeine from green coffee, while maintaining the quality of the flavour profile.
cup profile.
red grape | caramel | dark chocolate
This decaffeinated natural Bourbon from Kigobe Washing Station is a sweet and vibrant cup with crisp red grape and dried cherry fruit qualities supported by a rich dark chocolate and brown sugar sweetness.
