JNP Coffee Importers Exporters

As we all adjust our calendars to the new decade, I want to take a few moments to reflect on the past year.

There are so many people to be grateful for – first and foremost, the women and men coffee farmers in Burundi, whose commitment to quality never wavers, no matter the size of the harvest.

• The green coffee buyers and roasters who have embraced the empowering role of JNP Coffee.

• The IWCA members who encouraged and supported my partnership presentation in Rwanda at the AFCA Expo.

• The volunteer baristas who helped generate excitement at the JNP Coffee booth at the SCA Expo in Boston.

• The entrepreneurial women who took our savings lessons to heart and built their own wet mill.

• The...

While this year’s harvest was only 35 percent of last year’s, it had little impact on the high-end specialty coffee market. The small yield led to better quality with a higher concentration of high-scoring coffee. Next year’s harvest is projected to be much larger.
 

Latest harvest arriving soon

Microlots of this year’s harvest have been bagged and brought to containers, loaded onto ships and are wending their way right now from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, across the sea. A variety of Burundian coffees will be arriving in Newark and Oakland by the end of the year.

Because less coffee is available this year, if you’re interested in these shipments, get in touch with me soon for the best sel...

First flowering of future 2020 harvest!

It takes a lot of on-the-ground savvy to bring award-winning coffees to market, and I’m pleased to announce that our Kinyovu women’s coffee helped a local roaster win a Bronze medal at the prestigious Golden Bean competition.

When you look at photos of glistening coffee cherries, vast drying beds and magnificent mountainsides, you might think the journey from coffee farm to your café is as smooth as the coffee from Burundi.

The pictures make it look easy. But what you don’t see is

…our Q grader visiting the farms as the cherries blossom and grow.

JNP Coffee Q grader (at right) reviews sample cherry harvest with visitors.

…our quality control women on...

Back from a three-week trip to Burundi, I am glad to be back in the U.S. with news to share from the first harvest. Yield is significantly smaller this year – about one-third of last year’s harvest. While this is disappointing, it’s not unexpected. The last three years have seen very strong yields, and the nature of coffee production is cyclical. There is an upside to this development, however, as fewer cherries can mean higher quality.

My journey home found me crisscrossing the countryside. We had cuppings at the national lab and our quality control lab in Bujumbura. We went into the fields and picked cherries in Kayanza and Ngozi, enjoying warm welcomes from the women farmers there....

If I hadn’t realized it before, the impact was crystal clear at the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Boston. We are all members of a coffee community, and working together, we achieve great things. I am still buzzing from the ideas and energy of hundreds of conversations over those three days.

JNP Coffee has a lot of thank yous to share, as well as some good news.

We are grateful for the baristas on loan from roasters Barrington Coffee, Fazenda, Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, Boon Boona Coffee and Elm City. They all stepped up to showcase our delicious Burundi coffees at our booth in the Roaster Village. And thanks to Treeline for their many bags of coffee shipped out from Montana.

Many...

JNP Coffee creates economic opportunities for women (and some men) in Burundi through the specialty coffees they grow. You can experience some of these award-winning coffees at the upcoming SCA Coffee Expo. Stop by our booth #15 at the SCA Roaster Village for a cupping Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m., and April 14 at 11 a.m. Both Friday and Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon, our coffees will be featured in the cupping exchange, room 204A. Taste for yourself how Burundi’s climate and high altitudes support these heritage coffee plants without genetic modification.

Last month, I shared how we strengthen coffee communities through strong partnerships during the Afric...