Burundi Kayanza Nemba

The dry fragrance of City roasts has a scent of baking spices and sweet citrus, along a caramel corn candy hint. There was a raw sugar sweetness in the wet aroma, and breaking through the crust released a perfumed floral tea note. Light roasts have a lot of tea-like characteristics in the brewed coffee, not unlike most of the other Burundi's that we have right now. I picked up notes of chamomile flower, spiced Darjeeling, and orange black tea. This, along with aspects of baking spices, is what causes these Burundi coffees to stand out amongst many other East African coffees (though finding parity with Rwandan coffee), and lends to the clean brisk finish found in Nemba. Fruited notes that are little more than accents when the coffee is hot, come up a notch after cooling off some. Underlying bittersweetness gives way to hints of red apple and cherry. The acidic impressions are like citrus, and mouthfeel is on the tannic side in the finish. The sweetness holds up at Full City too, and offers a nice counterpoint to the roast tones.