Volume 03

Let’s start at the beginning: coffee is a fruit, a cherry, to be specific.

There are many ways to get from coffee cherry to roasted bean (which is actually the cherry’s seed), but the two coffees in this Volume were made under real pressure.

Both use the anaerobic natural process, a relatively new method where ripe coffee cherries are sealed away from oxygen as they ferment. Inside those tanks, sugars build and gases form, creating a gentle pressure that slowly transforms the fruit. When it’s done well, the result is something remarkable: fruit-forward, sweet, and alive in a way that feels almost impossible.

But for the families behind these coffees, under pressure means something deeper.

In Rwanda, the Rwamatamu Coffee team built their farm*petit à petit (little by little) as a family and community project. Across the border in Burundi, the farmers of Ninga Hills process their coffee without electricity, relying on patience, instinct, and sunlight. Both operate in environments that test resilience as much as skill, yet they continue to push forward, experimenting, refining, adapting.

Pressure isn’t always visible. Sometimes it settles in slowly, through waiting, repetition, and uncertainty. These coffees remind us that transformation can still unfold in moments like this. It happens quietly, with patience and care, until something unexpectedly bright emerges.