Some of Burundi's Best: Incuti & JNP Coffee

Like many folks, Jeanine Niyonzina-Aroian never imagined that she would one day work in coffee. Born and raised in Burundi, she pursued her education in the US and received her MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Afterwards, Jeanine worked in corporate America for over a decade. Although successful in her career, she was never really satisfied and often thought about how she could give back to her homeland. She founded Burundi Friends International (BFI), a not-for-profit that funds educational and economic empowerment programs for rural Burundians. Some of the folks BFI was working with were women coffee farmers, and many started to ask Jeanine if she could help them sell their coffee. Jeanine soon realized that she could make a more significant impact by working within the coffee industry, and she founded JNP Coffee in 2012.

Rows of drying tables at the Incuti drying station

Since its inception, JNP Coffee has maintained a strong focus on women’s empowerment, paying women directly for their work. Jeanine notes that typically, women in Burundi reinvest 90% of their income back into their families and communities; however, they lack full property ownership rights and do not have equal access to education. Local customs and cultural norms are slowly shifting as women become more active participants in their local economies. In collaboration with a few local women’s rights advocates, JNP Coffee established the Burundi chapter of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA), which now boasts over 2,000 members. Each member’s coffee is marketed for its traceability and impact, generating end-of-year premiums for all involved. The IWCA value chain has been so impactful that JNP has created additional programs to expand its farmer base and generate premiums beyond those of the IWCA-registered growers. 

Jeanine Niyonzina-Aroian (left), founder of JNP Coffee, meeting with members of Incuti

One of those additional programs is with the Incuti group in the Kayanza Province. Kayanza is renowned for producing some of Burundi’s highest-quality coffees, and the leader of a local producer group reached out to Jeanine after hearing about JNP Coffee’s assistance programs and post-harvest premiums. For groups like this, JNP established the “Dushime” program. In Kirundi, “Dushime” means “let’s be thankful,” and at JNP Coffee, the “Dushime” program provides farmers with a second payment later in the year, after JNP has sold the latest harvest to roasters and coffee buyers. This money is reinvested in the farmers’ communities, covering expenses such as school fees, supplies, and necessities, as well as fertilizer for the next season’s crops and employment opportunities for additional laborers on the farm.

In Kirundi, “Dushime” means “let’s be thankful,” and at JNP Coffee, the “Dushime” program provides farmers with a second payment later in the year, after JNP has sold the latest harvest to roasters and coffee buyers.

For this washed coffee, ripe coffee cherries are picked and floated in water to sort out defective cherries. The remaining clean cherries are depulped and fermented. The coffees in parchment go through another sorting process, this time through washing channels. Afterwards, they are dried in the shade for the first few days before being moved into the open air and piled into pyramids. The piles are flattened and re-shaped each day to control air exposure, which helps evenly dry the coffee. The resulting profile is bright, citrusy, and reminiscent of tea.

At the Incuti drying station, members rotate coffees in parchment to promote even drying before piling the coffees into pyramids.

JNP Coffee does fantastic work to highlight high-quality coffees of Burundi and support farmers and communities. It’s been a few years since we’ve featured coffee from JNP, and we’re thrilled to showcase this coffee from the Incuti group. As a pour-over, we pick up lemon at first sip, before it settles into notes of brown sugar and black tea. We love it on espresso, too: it has a vibrant acidity with a sweet and herbal finish. Paired with milk, it has hints of lemon cake!