February’s Trade Coffee brings beans from Burundi. If you’re like me, I had to look that up. It’s a land locked country in the middle of Africa bordered by Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. Joe Coffee Company is such great branding name. Most Americans should be familiar with term “cup of joe” which is a nickname for a cup of coffee. Apparently, the origins of this term is shrouded in mystery! Snopes, Readers Digest and the Roasterie offer some potential theories. I digress…. getting back to what matters, these beans are from Burundi’s Kayanza Province.

Opening the bag, I’m smell roasted nuts, fruits and floral aromas. Making my latte, the initial sip contains an explosion of citrus (pomelo?) flavors. After each sip, I also taste this subtle roasted grain/barley flavor that rounds the sip. This “roastedness” remains with each sip. It doesn’t quite become milk chocolate like either. It’s a little hard to describe as these beans are subtly different from Ethiopian beans. It has that familiarity of Ethiopian beans yet at the same time has it’s own unique taste differences.