Origin guideEast Africa
Burundi Burundian speciality coffee
Burundi is a small, hilly, landlocked country in the heart of Africa, where hundreds of thousands of families grow coffee on tiny plots. Its best coffees are sweet, clean and often floral, and well worth getting to know.
The field notes
Burundi at a glance
- Harvest
March to July
- Production
About 200,000 60 kg bags (2025 harvest estimate)
- Main regions
Kayanza · Ngozi · Kirundo · Gitega · Muramvya
- Common varietals
Red Bourbon · French Mission · Jackson · Mibirizi
Production figure: Burundi is not listed in the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service July 2026 coffee report. This is the 2025 harvest estimate of around 12,000 tonnes of green coffee published by exporter Sucafina, converted to 60 kg bags.
When is it harvested, and how is it processed? See our guide to coffee harvesting and processing.
Chapter 01The story
History of coffee in Burundi
Arabica coffee arrived in Burundi with the Belgian colonial administration in the 1930s. Farmers were required to grow it, with production quotas set by the colonial authorities, and coffee quickly became part of life on the country’s hills.
Coffee growing carried on after independence in 1962, as many families saw it as a route to a better life. With World Bank support, the government built washing stations and planted trees, and production rose quickly until the early 1990s.
Then came civil war, from 1993 to 2005. Many people were forced from their land and a lot of coffee trees were neglected or destroyed. Being landlocked has always made things harder too. Burundi’s coffee travels overland to the ports of Mombasa in Kenya or Dar es Salaam in Tanzania before it can be shipped anywhere.
Chapter 02Change
From state control to Cup of Excellence
For much of its history, Burundi’s coffee sector was run by the state. Reform began in the late 1980s, and in 1991 five part-public companies, known as SOGESTALs, were set up to manage the country’s washing stations.
From 2008 the government relaxed its rules and opened the sector to private businesses. Washing stations were trained in careful cherry selection, single fermentation and slower drying, and the results showed quickly. In 2012 Burundi became the second African country to hold a Cup of Excellence competition, with 17 coffees scoring 85 points or more.
The pendulum has since swung back. In 2020 the government returned the sector to tighter state control under a new coffee office, ODECA, although private exporters still operate washing stations and buy coffee.
Chapter 03Today
Coffee in Burundi today
Coffee in Burundi is grown by around 600,000 smallholder families, many on small plots on the country’s hillsides. Bourbon is by far the most common variety. Farmers pick ripe cherries by hand and carry them to a local washing station, where the coffee is pulped, fermented, washed and dried on raised beds.
Many stations use a double fermentation, leaving the coffee to ferment without water for around 12 hours, then soaking it for a further 12. Drying on raised beds can take three to four weeks.
Burundi shares one challenge with its neighbours: the potato taste defect. It is linked to the antestia bug, and an affected bean tastes strongly of raw potato, so producers prune trees and sort carefully to keep it out. When the coffee is clean, expect a sweet, bright cup with jammy fruit and floral notes.
Taste the neighbours
Like Burundian coffee? Try its neighbours
If you like Burundi’s sweet, bright and floral cups, try Kenya. Both are high-grown East African coffees, mostly washed, with lively acidity and plenty of fruit.
