BURUNDI BAVYEYI DARK ROAST

Tastes Like: Plum, Mango, Black Cherry, Rich Chocolate

Why I'm Obsessed: Let me tell you why this coffee is unusual. Beans of this caliber almost always get roasted light, because roasters want to show off the fruit. Amrita went dark with it (secret: because her partner loves dark roasts!) and the result is a treat you rarely get to taste: real roasty depth with all that fruit still rounding out the cup underneath, and a toasted sugar note in the finish that I kept going back for. If you're a dark roast person who drinks your coffee black, this is your coffee. It's also fantastic with a little milk and sugar. Burundi coffee has been kicking butt lately and these beans deserve their reputation: Bavyeyi means "parent" in Kirundi, named by Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, a daughter of Burundian coffee farmers, in honor of her mother, who worked the coffee fields to pay for her children's education. Jeanine's company, JNP Coffee, works with about 600 smallholder farmers in the red clay hills of Ngozi, growing Bourbon varietal at 5,900 feet, hand-picking only the ripest cherries and sun-drying them on raised African beds. Clean, sweet, and full-bodied, exactly what you want going into a dark roast. Prefer more fruit up front? It comes in a light roast too!

If you don't know Amrita, here's the short version: founder Anne Valdez has spent 30 years in specialty coffee, and her love affair with Burundi goes back to 1999, when she cupped it during an international project to reward quality-focused farmers and said "Wow, this coffee is awesome!" (in her own words). She's been chasing that wow moment ever since. One more thing I love: the little boy on the label is real. Anne photographed him at a washing station in Burundi nine years ago. He photobombed her landscape shot, thrilled and proud to be there, and she loved the picture so much she put him on the bag.

Bottom Line: You'll love Burundi Bavyeyi Dark if you love drinking your dark roast black, prefer all your summer fruit grilled, or enjoy coffees with a family story behind them.