Origin - DRC

Region - Butembo, Kivu Nord

Process - Washed

Producer - Mutendero Coffee Washing Station, Butembo smallholders

Altitude - 1800m

Variety - Bourbon

Tasting notes - Boiled sweets / strawberry jam / toffee

Our first ever coffee from DRC, this incredible fully washed lot from the Mutendero washing station has some very Kenyan-like sweetness with notes of boiled sweets and strawberry jam alongside a toffee-like finish. It’s a great choice for any brew method.

Mutendero Coffee Washing Station (CWS) is one of 9 belonging to Virunga Coffee Company, which was set up in 2012 to produce high quality coffees for the specialty market and increase premiums for the thousands of smallholder farmers in the region.

At 1820m, Mutendero sits at the highest altitude of all the Virunga stations. The region has excellent conditions for speciality coffee production with plentiful rainfall, high altitude and highly fertile volcanic soils. The region is also very poverty-stricken and lacks critical infrastructure which has made high quality arabica both difficult to produce and very challenging to export. Virunga Coffee Company has sought to overcome many of these problems through hands-on farmer education and investment in local infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges. This has allowed quality improvements every season and, in turn, higher premiums for farmers.