Tag: Burundi coffee

  • Cup of Excellence Burundi

    Cup of Excellence Burundi

    This week the Cup of Excellence comes to Burundi.  An amazing opportunity for the Burundi producers to showcase just how amazing their coffee is.  The COE is widely thought to be the pinnacle of success for many coffee producers.  This competition will highlight just how special Burundi speciality coffee is while promoting the hard working producers who create the amazing coffees entered.

    Last year I had the opportunity to be a juror on the inaugural Prestige Cup, or Cup of Excellence “pre” opening year.  This year I’m not judging but I am very excited to see the outcome of this internationally judged competition.  Leading up to the event I cupped through hundreds of micro lots from across Burundi searching for the finest micro lots.  Many of the lots selected to enter into the competition are ones that I have cupped.  I thought it would be fun to make some predictions on what I think will be, or should be, Burundi’s top five micro lots in the first ever Burundi Cup of Excellence.

    Enjoy my attempt at predicting the winners (and try not to take this too seriously or be offended if I didn’t mention your favorite lot).  And if I’m wrong I still enjoyed the journey to discover my top five.

    Cup of Excellence Burundi from Ben Carlson on Vimeo.

     

    Fun to make. But will my guesses be right?

    Coffee guy

  • Burundi Coffee Farmer: Benjamin from Musema

    Burundi Coffee Farmer: Benjamin from Musema

    burundi coffee farmer, burundi coffee, burundi farmer, east africa coffee farmer, long miles coffee project

    This is Benjamin. We met Benjamin along the side of a dirt road in Musema. He was picking coffee cherries from his trees, and our kids were climbing over a fallen tree nearby with some local kids. We had a minute, so I  asked Benjamin a little bit about his life. Here’s what he had to say.

    Station: Benjamin delivers his coffee cherries to Musema washing station.

    Family: Married, with one wife. He has five daughters, who all married coffee farmers. He’s very proud of that.

    Trees: Benjamin has 1200 coffee trees. That makes him a very successful farmer by Burundi’s standards.

    Last seasons crop: Last year Benjamin produced more than a ton of coffee and got 630 Burundi Francs per kilo ($.50 per kilo). That means Benjamin made about $500.00 last year. He also got a end of season bonus, along with other farmers from the station, from Bean There Coffee for producing such great coffee.

    This seasons crop: This year Benjamin is producing less coffee. Most farmers are producing more. He doesn’t know why this is. He thinks his trees will yield about 500-700 kilos of coffee cherry this year. Because the NYC price has dropped, Benjamin will only make 465 Burundi Francs per kilo this year ($.33 kilo). At best, Benjamin will make about $230.00 this year.

     

  • Underneath the coffee trees

    I love it under the coffee trees. Don’t you? We’re off to the coffee hills again tomorrow. I’ll be photographing more of the harvest process and Coffee Guy will be talking with farmers and making sure the coffee cherries are being processed correctly .

    I can’t wait. Being among the coffee trees re-connects me with the very reason we made such a dramatic move in the first place. My boys run free in their gum boots in the middle of Africa and my heart swells a bah-zillion times.

    Love,

    me

     

  • Brew Guide: Burundi Bush Brew

    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

  • The Burundi Coffee Harvest

    It’s harvest time here in Burundi and we decided to take the entire family into Burundi’s beautiful coffee hills to see it… and the film crew tagged along too. I don’t know if you will remember, but last year we didn’t see the harvest because we couldn’t get ourselves moved over here in time. It is a beautiful thing to see those coffee cherries bright red on the trees. The harvest will last for almost 90 days this season, so I am sure you will be sick and tired of hearing about it by the time we are through!

    Meanwhile… the amazing cinematographer Sunel filming the picking process. Me with my sassy pants on, caught by Producer Wesley while drying polaroid negatives between the coffee trees. Coffee Guy explaining the picking process for the cameras, while surrounded by kids (some of them his own, most of them not).

    Happy harvest!

    Love,

    me

  • Family On Polaroid Film

    Family On Polaroid Film

    Today I was talking to some friends about joy. Specifically about what gives us joy. Photography and family were the two things that immediately popped into my head. Yes, I LOVE photographing other things… but I feel so much joy photographing my boys’ journeys into grown-up-hood (lets face it… they might protest this whole thing soon!). Like that photograph of my Biggest Little and his “Myles’ Magic French Words” card. We made him that so he had words he could show his teacher if he was struggling to understand French at school. Lentement means slowly, in case he wanted his teacher to speak more slowly. I don’t think he ever used his magic French cards at school, but it made him feel more secure having them. Now he doesn’t even take them to school anymore. He just speaks.

    So much of life can be forgotten so quickly. We humans adapt and adjust, and before we know it… we forget that things were ever different. That’s why I photograph them… so that I remember how we like to make a game of having no electricity, that they once loved to cuddle, that my Littlest Little sometimes puts his foot up on the table after he’s eaten breakfast, that they can’t get enough of building towers or hijacking the nearest computer. I never want to forget, because it all goes SO FAST doesn’t it?

    Love,

    me

    Hasselblad 501 C,

    with Polaroid back

    Fujifilm FP-3000B

     

  • Jute sacks on the mend… and life.

    I hate to admit it…

    (because it might be just a little bit cheesy)

    but I saw myself in these pitiful jute coffee sacks.

    What is it

    about life here…

    that keeps me so totally raw

    all

    of

    the

    time?

    As if THAT NEEDLE is passing through

    me

    EVERY

    DAY.

    Do you know what the French word for DAY is?

    journee

    I can’t help but see the symbolism.

    Every

    DAY

    is

    A

    JOURNEY.

    (I am SHOUTING that, right NOW)

    Throughout this

    JOURNEY

    HERE  in THIS PLACE

    I have felt so totally out of control.

    As if I was loosing my mind, my soul, my everything.

    Well, you guys know…

    you’ve had to

    READ IT.

    But the clouds are clearing.

    The holes seem to be mending.

    SOMEONE

    is

    piecing us all

    back together.

    One

    stich

    at

    a

    time.

    A new season is

    HERE…

    and

    the coffee harvest

    is only a few weeks away.

    love,

    me

    Coffee bag mending for the 2012 season

    Gacokwe Washing Station, Burundi

    ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, f/1.6 (if you care about that stuff)

  • Family Post

    Family Post

    Today I’m taking a step back. Looking at the last few months in pictures. I am blown away with gratitude. I am so grateful. Grateful for the journey we are on. Grateful that we live here even though IT’S TOUGH sometimes. Grateful for the people in our lives (the ones we see every day and the ones we don’t).

    Thanks for sticking with us.

  • The Burundi Details.

    I LOVE being in the coffee hills. They are THE PEOPLE we moved here for. Being up there with them always reminds me of the reasons we gave up that other life, changed course, and set up camp in Burundi.

    Wedding photographers talk about “detail shots” a lot. What the flowers, the decor, and the dresses were like. I had a chuckle about this on Saturday (the wedding-ist-crazy day of the week) while we were in the coffee hills with some amazing guests from our organization, The Navigators. I realized that while I was photographing dirty feet and age old bikes, others were probably busy photographing pretty flowers and beautiful gowns. Mine is a whole different kind of detail. I love it though!

    This is the same community that I wrote about here… and let me tell you, they have captured my heart. I can’t wait to spend more time with them! Really, they are beyond amazing and I love that we are developing such an exciting relationship with them. More on that in my next post.

    The building project you see? That’s drying tables for the coffee, in progress.

    Love,

    me

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