Burundi Bavyeyi Washed

About the Coffee

JNP Coffee was founded by Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, and this particular coffee carries personal weight for her. Ngozi Province is where her mother grew up, and as a child her mother helped the family harvest coffee cherries to pay for school fees. The name "Bavyeyi" comes from that story: in Kirundi, the local language of Burundi, it means "parents." The coffee is grown at 1,800 meters above sea level, an elevation that Ngozi's remote areas are known for producing quality coffee from.

JNP Coffee sources from a cooperative with around 2,000 members, many of them Muslim women. The cooperative runs its own washing station, where cherries are processed using the washed method: the fruit is removed before drying, which produces a cleaner, more consistent cup. JNP Coffee's own Q-grader (a certified professional trained to evaluate coffee quality) has made multiple trips to the washing station to work directly with farmers on improving growing and processing practices.

The variety is Red Bourbon, one of the older coffee plant varieties, which is widely grown across Burundi and known for its consistent quality at high elevations. Red Bourbon tends to produce smaller yields than newer varieties, so farmers who grow it are generally prioritizing cup quality over volume.

About Ethica Coffee Roasters

Ethica Coffee Roasters is based in Toronto and takes its name from the 17th-century philosopher Spinoza's "Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata," a work about aligning actions with reason and virtue. That framing shapes how the roastery approaches sourcing: they look for coffees with traceable producer stories and treat those stories as part of what they're delivering to the customer.

Their sourcing focuses on specialty-grade green beans, and they put consistent attention into how the coffee is handled after it's bought, through roasting and brewing approach. The connection to producers like Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian and JNP Coffee reflects a preference for relationships where the people behind the coffee are known, not anonymous.

"There is an Ethica coffee that stands out in my mind - a Washed Castillo from Wilton Benitez that had rosemary as a tasting note. Yes, rosemary. I remember looking at that tasting note in disbelief, and then experiencing about the same disbelief by how much I loved the rosemary flavour!"

- Dean, Director of Coffee