Day 8: Enjoy - Muzo
Enjoy Coffee Roasters
About the Beans
| Coffee: | Muzo |
|---|---|
| Roaster: | Enjoy Coffee Roasters |
| Location: | Providence, RI |
| Instagram: | @enjoycoffeeroasters |
| Region: | Gakenke District, Northern Province, Rwanda |
| Producers: | 650 Smallholder Farmers --> Muzo Station |
| Elevation: | 2000 MASL |
| Process: | White Honey, 48 Hour Extended Fermentation |
| Varietal: | Red Bourbon |
| Tasting Notes: | Sweet Tea, Granny Smith, Florals, Brisk, Brown Sugar |
| Price: | $27.50/10oz |
From Enjoy Website on the coffee:
Anotherone This is our fourth release from the gems of Sundog Trading and Baho Coffee. This mayyyyy be the offering I’ve been most excited about from the 5 lots we brought in this year. This is a special White Honey lot for Baho and Sundog as it was created and refined with collaboration from one of the raddest specialty minds out there and longtime contributor to our industry, Christopher Feran. Let’s dig in!
Real Quick! Do yall know what White Honey process is?! If yes, skip to the next paragraph, if not here’s the quick quick: Honey process aka semi-washed aka pulp natural is a mid-point of sorts between the washed and natural processes. With the honey process, the cherries are picked and depulped as they are in the washed process, but then they are dried with the mucilage (sugary, honey-like layer) in tact - whereas in the washed process this is agitated off the seed before drying. As honey processing has become more common, producers have experimented with more and less mucilage in tact and as a way to roughly classify them, we look to colors. So in short, the lighter the color, the least mucilage is left on the seed and the darker the color, the more of the mucilage is left in tact. TLDR - White Honey is as close as you can get to a washed coffee while still having some of that good sugary mucilage left on the seed to dry which gives our cup profile a little more body and sweetness in my experiences! Ok, onward!
As told by Sundog Trading: The Muzo station is nestled in the rolling hills near the heart of Rwanda, about a 2 hour drive North West of the capital city. There are drastically fewer stations in this remote area of the country in comparison to famously populated districts like those immediately surrounding Lake Kivu. Nonetheless, competition remains fierce, as the Gakenke District has garnered the attention of more strictly specialty-focused stations.
Muzo is the smallest in the Baho collection, and it is very near and dear to Emmanuel (founder of Baho Coffee) as the source of some of his most prized coffees. It’s also been a major focus of investment the past few seasons. Baho established a massive seedling distribution program here, gifting millions of Red Bourbon (BM139) seedlings to farmers. In tandem with farms slowly starting to increase their output, Muzo has been expanding their land and adding a substantial amount of drying beds. When we first began working with this station in 2019, it was collecting from around 400 farmers and producing only half of a container of coffee. These numbers have now grown to 650 producers delivering, with the annual production of exportable coffee over 2 full containers - around 700 x 60kg bags to be exact.
With altitudes topping out at 2000+ masl, it’s no surprise why coffees that come through this station are some of the most dynamic that we taste each season. As one of the more intensely mountainous regions of Rwanda, many farmers are located in areas that make the journey to deliver cherry particularly strenuous. To assist people living in these highest altitude and hardest-to-travel places, Baho has established a free collection service for Muzo. Producers are still given full price for cherry, and Baho takes on the extra costs associated with a station leader driving around to collect coffee at people’s homes and/or established collection sites.
For this specific white honey process, we collaborated with our friend and longtime supporter of Baho, Christopher Feran. Christopher designed a protocol that we shared with Emmanuel early in the 2024 harvest season. We then requested to try the process as an experiment with a selection of the highest quality cherries sourced from the highest altitude areas, and we agreed on an exact purchase volume and price. Muzo was a clear choice for this trial, as it’s a location where we could source cherry grown at over 2000 masl from the latter third of the harvest season. We’re incredibly excited that this honey process worked so well and already have plans to ramp up volume next season!
Every processing style begins with a day of intensive sorting at the cherry stage, under complete shade, to ensure only the ripest are chosen and any visible defects are removed. Step two is multiple rounds of floating - filling a large container with cherries and water, discarding the less dense cherries that float to the top of the tank.
After enough volume was accumulated, the cherries were depulped and placed into clean plastic barrels filled with fresh, cold water. The barrels were stored under shade, lids off, where they were left for a total of 48 hours. Every 12 hours, the wet parchment slurry was very gently stirred; and at the 48 hour mark, it was vigorously stirred to remove the majority of the mucilage before being transferred to the drying tables.
The drying protocol begins by moving coffee onto shaded beds for 12 - 72 hours. This is a unique step in Rwanda, called skin drying, that has two distinct benefits. First, it sets the trajectory for the entire drying phase by initially beginning very gently and slowly under complete shade. Secondly, it allows ample time for intensive sorting while the parchment is still wet - this is important because certain defects (seeds bitten by Antestia in particular, thought to cause the potato defect) can be seen much more easily when the parchment is wet. The parchment is finally moved into full sun on raised drying beds, where it’s very frequently turned until drying is complete. Weather conditions are closely monitored throughout the day, and if certain temperature thresholds are exceeded, workers will focus on turning coffee more frequently or cover the beds with mesh netting. When moisture content reaches the target of 11%, the drying phase is considered complete. The parchment is bagged, labelled, and stored in a dry warehouse at Muzo until time for milling. Total drying time for this lot was 30 days.
This coffee drips with detail from seed to cup. This is some of the highest grown and meticulously sorted Red Bourbon in the county and then under went a unique extended fermentation before being prepared as a white honey lot.
In the cup I’m immediately getting Lipton Brisk Iced Tea vibes off the top. The lemon-y sugary sweet black tea quality is accompanied by an awesome granny smith apple like acidity and tartness. As the coffee cools, florals a la rose and chamomile start to creep up in the cup profile. This is a special one. No way around it. Grab a bag of this for the self and for the homie as this unique lot won’t be around for long!
The Story
Enjoy is the project of my man Justin. He is a truly awesome and wonderful person beyond being a fantastic coffee roaster. I met Justin at SMC back when he was still roasting for Bolt. He left Bolt and started Enjoy Coffee Roasters. When he first started distributing coffee he would do so in these cute little coffee jars. I remember getting him to sign one of my jars way back in the day. Justin is so humble for the quality of the coffee he produces too. If it sounds like I’m a fanboy, it’s because I am.
Anyway, Enjoy is capping off this year’s coffee box and I could not be more happy to finish with this one. I had to chase down Justin to get him in this year’s box because he was very busy. I was sure that I was going to annoy him by being so persistent and actually showing up at his roastery and asking him to be in the box. I was wrong. He was so kind and gracious. If you haven’t already, consider getting on the Enjoy train.
Of note, he also helped recommend a bunch of new roasters for this year. So I owe him double.
Reviews
Genco-Rogers
Perfect morning coffee. The floral, brown sugar flavors are not overpowering. Easy to sip and relax before starting the day. Hands down our favorite of the different coffees in the box.
Zack
I couldn’t be happier with this coffee. I could be happier with my espresso machine which is on it’s last leg (the steam wand is shot and I couldn’t try the macchiato this morning). Still if there is a coffee to enjoy black, I feel like this a great one! So much fruit. When I put together this box, this is the type of coffee I was hunting for. Don’t skip on it! My tasting notes were heaviest on sweet, acidic, floral and berry fruits.
