Grading reference
Burundi Coffee Grades
- Grades
- 3
- Species
- Arabica
- Authority
- ODECA (Office pour le Développement du Café du Burundi), which oversees washing stations and export quality
- Bag standard
- 60 kg jute, GrainPro liners standard on specialty lots
At a glance
The Burundi grade ladder
Where each designation sits on the screen scale — and which ones are not size separations at all.
Screen number · 4.8–7.5 mm
- Screen 16+Arabica
- Grade AArabica
- Grade BArabica
| Grade | What it encodes | Screen | Species |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade A | The principal fully washed export class, prepared to a tight defect standard and generally screen 15 and above. | Screen 15+ | Arabica |
| Grade B | A wider defect and size allowance from the same station preparation. Often a good value block when the cup is confirmed. | Screen 14–15 | Arabica |
| Screen 16+ | Additional screen separation requested by buyers who need a tighter size band than the grade guarantees. | Screen 16+ | Arabica |
The distinction that matters
What the grade does not tell you
This is where most green coffee is mis-bought. A grade is a preparation class. Everything below is a separate contract field, and every one of them moves independently of the grade name.
What it does fix
Burundi grading encodes
- Defect count against the fully washed preparation standard
- A screen floor — Grade A is generally screen 15 and above
- That the parcel came through a station’s fully washed process with soak
Use the grade to define the physical deliverable. Use the approved sample to define the cup. Both belong in the contract.
What it does not
Specify these separately
- Cup qualityTwo lots at the same grade from the same mill can cup several points apart. Only cupping tells you.
- Defect countA separate count on a defined sample, against a weighting table that differs by origin.
- MoistureA range plus the measurement method. Two meters on one parcel routinely disagree.
- Crop yearNothing in a grade name distinguishes current crop from a parcel that has been in store a year.
- DensityBulk density in g/L, which drives charge temperature and roast planning.
- Water activityStorage stability. Related to moisture but not derivable from it.
- TraceabilityCountry, station or day lot are different claims. A grade fixes none of them.
- Processing methodWashed, natural and honey can all carry the same grade at most origins.
Quick answer
Burundian fully washed Arabica is graded principally as Grade A and Grade B, separated on defect count and screen, with Grade A generally screen 15 and above. As in Rwanda, screen is commonly specified alongside the grade because the two-tier system cannot express size closely.
Grade A and Grade B
Burundian export Arabica is almost entirely fully washed, typically with an extended soak after fermentation, and is separated into two principal export classes.
| Grade | Preparation | Typical screen | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade A | Fully washed with soak | Screen 15+ | The principal specialty export class |
| Grade B | Fully washed with soak | Screen 14–15 | Wider defect and size allowance from the same preparation |
| Screen-specified | Fully washed with soak | Screen 16+ | Requested where a tighter size band than the grade guarantees is needed |
Collines and station-level identity
Burundi is administratively divided into provinces, communes and collines — the colline being a hill, and the smallest unit of local organisation. Coffee is produced by smallholders on those hills and delivered to washing stations, of which the country has a dense network.
Many Burundian stations record cherry deliveries at colline level, which makes an unusually fine traceability claim genuinely evidenced rather than aspirational. Where that record exists, a lot can be identified to station and to the hills that supplied it.
Evidenced, not assumed
Colline-level reporting is available at many stations, not at all of them, and not for every lot. We state the level a given lot’s documentation actually supports. A station-level lot is described as a station-level lot, not upgraded to a colline claim because it reads better.
The potato defect
Burundi shares the potato defect risk described in full on the Rwanda grades page. The mechanism, the management and the contract implications are the same: it is intermittent, invisible in the green, not reliably sortable, and best handled by station selection, thorough cupping and explicit contract terms.
Harvest and shipment
Burundian harvest runs broadly April to July, later in the northern high-altitude provinces of Kayanza and Ngozi than in the central ones. Burundi is landlocked, and the inland leg to the coast is the main variable in arrival planning — build it into the schedule rather than treating it as a rounding error. See the crop calendar.
Burundian coffee enquiries
Tell us the grade, screen, the traceability level you need to be able to evidence, and the volume.
Request Coffee OfferContract language
Writing a Burundi specification
The grade names the physical deliverable. These are the fields that have to sit beside it for the contract to be enforceable.
| Field | What to state | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Origin and region | Burundi, plus the growing area — Kayanza, Ngozi, Kirundo | Region drives altitude, harvest timing and cup character more than the grade does |
| Grade | The Burundi designation — Grade A, Grade B, Screen 16+ | Fixes the preparation class and the size separation |
| Screen | Retention screen plus the permitted percentage passing | A screen without a tolerance is not a specification — no sizing line is perfect |
| Defects | Maximum full defects per 300 g, and the weighting table | Weighting tables differ by origin, so the number alone is not portable |
| Moisture | Range plus the measurement method and instrument | Two meters on the same parcel routinely disagree |
| Crop year | Explicit, with the harvest period | "Current crop" means different things in different months |
| Cup | Approved sample retained by both parties | The only thing that fixes flavour; the grade does not |
| Packaging | 60 kg jute, GrainPro liners standard on specialty lots | Changes the price and the container arithmetic |
| Port and Incoterm | Dar es Salaam (Central Corridor) or Mombasa (Northern Corridor) · FOB, CFR or CIF | Determines where cost and risk transfer |
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is Burundian Grade A the same as Kenyan AA?
What is a colline lot?
Does Burundi produce natural coffee?
Keep reading
Related to Burundi Coffee Grades
- Coffee Grades ExplainedWhat a green coffee grade encodes and leaves out, with the grading systems of six East African origins side by side.
- Rwanda Coffee GradesHow Rwandan fully washed Arabica is graded — Grade 1 and Grade 2, why screen is usually specified alongside the grade, and what the potato defect means for a contract.
- Washed coffee — process, cup and specificationWashed, natural and honey processing explained — what each does to the cup, where the risk sits and how to specify it.
- Burundi Green CoffeeBurundian green coffee: washed Bourbon Arabica from hillside washing stations, traceable to the individual colline, with regional profiles and buyer guidance.
- Washed Green CoffeeFully washed green coffee from Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda — including soak-processed lots — specified by grade, screen and cup.
Request an offer
Tell us the Burundi coffee you need
Grade, screen, defect basis, moisture, crop year, volume and destination. Send what you know and we will confirm what the current crop supports.