Brew Guide: Burundi Bush Brew

This coffee brewing method is rustic. It’s so simple that even if you don’t own any fancy coffee brewing equipment, you probably have everything you need to get started right now… as long as you have coffee. The first time I ever had a cup of Burundi coffee I was IN the bush of Burundi consulting for a coffee washing station.  Before I started my day of checking on the washing station’s progress, I went to the house of the man who had started up the coffee cooperative I was visiting. He brewed me coffee in this very old tech, full bodied, somewhat rudimentary but entirely tasty way.  This method is the Burundi coffee making method.  If you have traveled to or live in Burundi, you know that you can either go to one of about 4 cafes with an espresso machine or you get served coffee made in a similar fashion to this. It’s also a great method for camping or electricity-less mornings.

You can pretty much just have a rummage in your kitchen cupboards to come up with the supplies you need to brew this coffee. A few key things you need for this method are a mortar and pestle, a sieve or strainer, freshly boiled water and freshly roasted coffee..

Use the mortar and pestle to grind the freshly roasted coffee. Do yourself a favor and never buy pre-ground coffee, your palate will thank you. The key here is to grind the coffee just fine enough, avoiding grinding it so fine that you get a lot of sediment running through the sieve. We are showing you lots of detailed shots of our grind so that you can see roughly where to grind to. Although, we both agreed the coffee could have been a little more finely ground than what you see here. Measure out one heaping Tablespoon per cup of coffee you are going to make.

Put your ground coffee into a pitcher and pour in just enough off boiled water to cover the grounds. Allow this to “bloom” for 30 seconds. Pour in the remaining water. Get a good estimate of how big the pitcher is and don’t add too much water.  A good ratio is 250ml/1 cup of water per heaped Tablespoon of coffee.

Agitate the coffee and let it steep for four minutes all together, including “bloom” time.

Pour your coffee through a strainer into a carafe (pre heating the carafe will keep your coffee at a drinkable temperature for longer) or directly into your (pre heated) cups.

There you have it Burundi Bush Brew! Ideally speaking you would make sure you were enjoying a Burundi freshly roasted coffee while using this method.

Enjoy!

CG