Burundi Nemba

Imported from Barcelona — we find these beans drink best 2–3 weeks after the roast date

A silky, honeyed Burundi built for slow pour-over mornings

Burundi Nemba is a washed single origin from the Nemba washing station in Kayanza, in the north of Burundi. It is Red Bourbon grown at around 1,700 metres above sea level, picked in the 2025 harvest and roasted by Nomad in Barcelona. Expect something gentle and perfumed rather than heavy — this is a coffee that rewards a careful brew.

Tasting Notes

Dried Apricot · Honey · White Flowers
Mellow, soft acidity with a silky body and a long, honey-sweet finish.

Coffee Details

About This Coffee

Nemba is not a single estate. It is a washing station in Kayanza province, near the Kibila Forest, and it works as a gathering point for the people who farm around it — 1,074 smallholders, each tending an average of about 150 coffee trees on land sitting above 1,700 metres. Holdings that small are the norm in Burundi, so what ends up in the bag is really hundreds of tiny harvests pooled and processed together.

The station is built around drying. There are more than 200 raised tables on site and capacity to handle roughly 750 metric tonnes in a season. Ripe cherry is pulped, then fermented to release the last of the mucilage, rinsed clean with fresh water, and moved out onto the beds. Raising the beans off the ground lets air move underneath them, which keeps the drying even and protects the floral, delicate side of the cup that makes this lot worth the trouble.

Alongside the processing work, an agronomist is attached to the station to train farmers and oversee good agricultural practice. The station also runs community programmes for the families who supply it, including livestock schemes and support for building up local cooperatives.

How to Brew

Start with a 45-second bloom at about 45ml, then pour in two even stages. Because the acidity here is soft, this lot is forgiving — but if the cup tastes thin, grind a touch finer before you reach for more coffee. It also makes an excellent iced filter: brew onto ice at the same ratio and the apricot sharpens up nicely.

How Much Coffee Is in a Bag?

A 250g bag makes roughly 16 cups of filter coffee at the 15g dose above. For most people brewing one cup a day, that is a little over two weeks — which lines up neatly with the window where these beans are at their best.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this better for espresso or filter?
Filter. This is the filter-line lot from Nomad, so pour-over, batch brew and immersion methods will show it off best. You can pull it as espresso, but the delicate florals are easier to find in a filter cup.

What does it taste like?
Dried apricot first, then honey, with white floral notes underneath. The acidity is mellow rather than sharp, the body is silky, and the finish lingers with a honey-like sweetness.

How fresh is the coffee?
This coffee is roasted by Nomad in Barcelona and imported by us. In our experience they are drinking at their best around 2–3 weeks past the roast date, so they arrive ready to brew rather than needing a long rest.

What does ‘washed’ process mean?
After picking, the fruit is pulped off the seed and the coffee is fermented to break down the remaining sticky mucilage, then rinsed clean with water before drying. Removing the fruit early means less of it influences the flavour, so what you taste comes mostly from the bean itself — which is why washed coffees like this one read as clean, clear and floral.

New to single origins? The Taster Box is an easy way in. Brewing for a whole team? See Office & Bulk Coffee. Free shipping within Peninsular Malaysia on orders over RM80 (RM150 for East Malaysia).