Tag: Burundi coffee

The Gift Of Coffee On Gaharo Hill

“How many of you have ever tasted coffee from your home hill?” I asked while requesting a show of hands. One person raised their hand. One person. Just one. Over 200 coffee farmers were circled around us at the community gathering point on Gaharo hill. It was hot and dusty. The morning light of Africa falling harshly on people’s faces. The community elders sat behind rustic wooden tables. The rest of the community sat on small benches or on the ground. We spent the morning listening to the challenges the farmers are facing, sharing ideas and thoughts about change and the future.

We brewed coffee over a fire, passing it through a small sieve and into cups. It’s about as rustic a brew method as you can imagine and it was amazing coffee. I talked about the meaning of coffee in my home culture. “Sharing a coffee means sharing friendship and community and ideas” I said, feeling unsteady with the words. Does it? Cups were shared around the circle, one cup seeing many lips and hands. Florence, wrapped in a beautiful blue igitenge, griped my hands and thanked us for bringing such a lovely gift. My core was all shaken up at the thought. Coffee is part of everyday living for most people, we “can’t live without it” (my own words) and yet it’s a foreign treasure to this small hill of coffee growers sitting in their town square surrounded by… coffee trees.

Lauren, Long Miles’ Farmer Relations Officer (FRO), drawing out the coffee supply chain it in the dirt to help the farmers understand the journey of their coffee.

July 9, 2014
Our Struggle For Hope

I woke up thinking about the way the equatorial morning light moves around the dense matter of humanity. Long shadows on the ground serve as evidence that there are spaces the light cannot fill. I feel like we have been living in those dark spaces for several weeks now, all the time fighting to get out from under the shadows. There are always problems with the start of coffee harvest, and this year’s problems feel even larger than the last. Ben likes to describe problems as opportunities for growth and change. I am slightly less optimistic than that, more like a pessimist who still believes in fairy tales.

Our second washing station, Heza (which means beautiful place in Kirundi), has been a tooth and nail fight to build and get operational. Truth is, we are a bit weary. I stood on the dirt road near Heza last week overwhelmed by the sheer volume of problems in front of us. Water, McKinnon, collection points… all not yet secure while green cherries turn to red on the trees.

Above: Silva collecting coffee cherries near our Bukeye washing station Here: Margadarena, a coffee farmer, and her son fetching water near Heza

Sometimes it’s hard for me to lay our encounters here out in neat strands of thought. Like last week, for example, when we were near Heza discussing all the challenges in front of us. We were having that conversation around our broken down vehicle. A crowd grew. Eventually about 50 people surrounded the car as our friend struggled to fix it. Whenever you think you are alone in Burundi, you are most definitely not. With one of the highest population densities in the world, “alone” is rarely an option.

A child came up to me. He caught me in a brow furrowing worry-drenched moment. “Why do you look at me like I’m an animal?” he said in perfect English. My insides churned. I defended myself. I told him he had misinterpreted me. I told him that we were here doing this thing because we believe in the dignity and value of every person. I felt like I had been on my last leg standing and with one small sentence, he had swept me off it. A shadow grew.

fixing the LMCP vehicle near Heza washing station

I have a friend who says, “There is hope!” like a tick-response to every difficulty. I tease her about it and I probably shouldn’t because I think she is right. Shadows are so lovely because the shapes they cast are temporary. They are only a representative of darkness, morphing and drifting at the mercy of light and matter. Heza is beautiful and so is the community we’ve built it in. Farming families rooted on giant hills surround the station, each hill with a unique micro-climate and personality. On a steep mountainside at 1960 meters, with panoramic views of the Kibira National Forest and the nearest town a half -day walk away, Heza is a beautiful potential laden sight.

We will celebrate Heza’s opening within days and in the meantime, we grasp onto strands of hope as they float by because, as Brene Brown says, “Hope is really a thought.” If I could sear WE DO NOT LOSE HEART (2 Corinthians 4:1) on my skin right now I would. I need to remember every moment of the day that life is a journey that requires courage.

I leave you with more Brene Brown goodness:

“Numb the dark and you numb the light.”

“Wholehearted living is about engaging with our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion and connection to wake up in the morning and think, ‘No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough.’ It’s going to bed at night thinking, ‘Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.”

“Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.”

“The root of the word courage is cor—the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Over time, this definition has changed, and, today, courage is more synonymous with being heroic. Heroics are important and we certainly need heroes, but I think we’ve lost touch with the idea that speaking honestly and openly about who we are, about what we’re feeling, and about our experiences (good and bad) is the definition of courage.”

April 24, 2014
Where to find Long Miles Coffee + Harvest

Our inaugural crop has landed in the States and it is FOR SALE! More roasters will have it in stock in the coming weeks, but here is where you can find it now. Also, if you would like to check out a story I did about Harvest which is featured on Stellar, a great little app for documenting stories, click the Stellar link. Thank you for you support in the past year as we have taken on building a washing station, and now a second one. We really value you coming to this space and giving us your support.

It has been a busy season over here at Long Miles. We’ve had lots of visitors, like our friend Mark who was here last week teaching us how to do sun dried naturals. There is a definite buzz as we prepare for harvest, which begins today. Everyone is busy stamping farmer cards, buying chicken wire, or submitting paperwork. It has been a hard week for us to keep from feeling completely overwhelmed, especially as we look towards the weeks ahead which are even busier. Our second station, Heza, is not completely finished but we are pushing towards opening her anyway ;).

HERE WE GO! Special thanks to these amazing roasters who believed in our vision enough to partner with us. Without their support and love for people, we could not do what we do. There will be more added to this list in the coming weeks, I will try to keep you posted.

Dogwood Coffee, Minneapolis MN

Huckleberry Coffee, Denver CO

Olympia Coffee, Olympia WA

Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale AK

Tonx, online

Please, go get em! I would LOVE IT if you could hashtag your Burundi beans with #lmcpwashingstation on Twitter and Instagram so that we could virtually see them… that way we can live vicariously through you! There is a giveaway hitting the blog tomorrow in celebration of harvest, so pop back soon.

April 3, 2014
Burundi Coffee Farmer Story: Charles Ndayishimiye

CHARLES

Gahaga Hill

Charles asked us what all the fuss what about, “Why is the white lady (muzungu) here with all her cameras?” he said. I told him the pictures were for me. A project I could not stop shooting, a thing I could not stop doing. Telling his story, I told him, was important to me. Burundi coffee farmers hold treasures in their stories that I think we can all understand or learn from. I am not on some great campaign to change the world, I told him (although deeply I would love to be that stirred), I am just curious about people and I believe each story we capture counts… because these are real people and this is the age in which we are privileged to breathe.

It’s also my way, I told Charles, of understanding Burundi. I understand Burundi very little on the whole… but I feel so much closer to knowing it when I see it through a lens.

>>>

Charles has 6 children and a small plot of land with just over 300 trees. He was born in 1961 while Burundi was declaring independence from foreign rule. Last year he made $169 growing coffee. He has to walk 3 kilometers to get to our washing station. This coming coffee season we will have a collection point near Charles’ home, which will save Charles (and the other farmers in his community) from having to make the long and time consuming walk to our station. When we asked Charles what his hope for his children was, he said he hoped that he could continue to farm coffee in order to feed all of them.

Portra 400 Canon EOS3, Canon 5D Mk III

February 14, 2014
Our Burundi Coffee Has Hit The Road

Last week our small (and growing) LMCP team had some amazing victories. We have been pushing hard for many months to export our farmer’s Burundi coffee. It has been a loooooong road here in Burundi, my people. The road included acquiring 29 stamps and signatures on documents from 14 banks and governement offices. There were a few tears, I cried the first time I found out that one of our export documents needed to be typed meticulously on a very specific archaic typewriter, and that there are only two of these typewriters available in the city. No word documents… only a specific typewriter would do. What do you say to that?

Twenty-nine stamped and signed documents later, we took some time to see our coffee through it’s final stage of being bagged in GrainPro for it’s journey across the world.

Wasn’t this kid just 4 yesterday? I still can’t believe I have a 7 year old.The bag jumping kid is the afternoon entertainement.^Do you see him? He’s a seriously good hider.
Burundi coffee in all it’s glory.I love warehouse light, it’s strange but true.
A quick chat with LMCP’s new head of logistics, John. Poor Myles, by this point he’s had it because he mis-jumped. Whoops ; ) Happens to the best jumpers out there ; )Truthfully, a fancy forklift is a pretty amazing sight in Burundi.…and this Burundi coffee is outta here! Sigh. of. relief.

November 21, 2013
A Burundi Coffee Farmer Story: Tharcis

When Tharcis (Tar-cease) Ntahonkuriye wandered into my makeshift studio space in the coffee hills, this 76 year old mostly toothless coffee farmer won me over instantly. It is a running family joke that my dad, whose name is Bruce Wayne, is THE real-true-one-and-only Batman. Seeing Tharcis in his Batman hat out in the rural African coffee hills made me smile. He lives near the Long Miles Coffee Project washing station, but during our first season he didn’t deliver his coffee cherries to us. He thinks he will next year now that he has seen that we pay on time, offer farmers extra premiums and benefits, and are concerned about the well being of his community. Tharcis has two daughters that have died and a son that he has lost touch with. He has been farming coffee since he was 20 years old, right thought the devastating Hutu/Tutsi war that shook the region. Tharcis has around 300 coffee trees, which last season earned him just 25,000 FBU… a little over $16.

He has been walking 3 or 4 kilometers (up to 2.5 miles) to deliver his cherries to the washing station each day. It is for elderly farmers like Tharcis that we want to purchase a fleet of bikes and set up coffee collection points around the region. Not only would Tharcis not have to walk as far, but his coffee cherries would also not have time to ferment in the hot sun. The bikes would provide jobs to people in the community as drivers and collection point managers. Fingers crossed that we can secure funding to get that up and running soon.

Tharcis also mentioned to me that beer and rice are his favorite foods now that he has no teeth. : )

October 8, 2013
Behind The Scenes On Coffee Farmer Pay Day

This post is sponsored by Disney Story. To find out more about this brand-new story-creation app – and how it puts the power of storytelling in your hands – click here.

It was an amazing day at the LMCP washing station last week because we were able to pay all our Burundi coffee farmers months before they anticipated it. The whole LMCP team was at the washing station and not only did we manage to pay all the farmers, but we captured 22 of their stories.

I was photographing farmer stories most of the day, but I managed to sneak out to capture a few of the happenings at the station.Wait until you see and read this farmer’s story. Wow! He was an absolute dream come true to photograph. Connecting with him was an experience I will never forget. Neo “helping out” with farmer payments. He gave up helping dad, had a “no-nap meltdown” and landed up in the ol’ Granny Landy with the ipad. Myles learned how to shoot a bow and arrow from our resident washing station guard, Jean. Of course, Jean sent the bow and arrow home with us and we’ve had to oversee daily practice sessions ever since. I never can resist photographing the bikes! Millions of bike pictures. Mill-IONS. Lookie, it’s the LMCP washing station! 5 months ago this was a hill full of eucalyptus trees being grown for firewood and charcoal. Pay day happiness.

While I was photographing farmer stories in the cherry collection room, this guy showed up at my window. Made my day!

July 8, 2013
Coffee Cupping 101 With Long Miles Coffee Project

This post is sponsored by Disney Story. To find out more about this brand-new story-creation app – and how it puts the power of storytelling in your hands – click here.

I asked this blog’s resident coffee guy some questions about coffee cupping. Here’s what I found out.

What is so great about coffee cupping?

What I like best of all about coffee cupping is that it is all about experience. All the forms, procedures and methodologies of cupping make each tasting standardized. The adventure lies in the potential of each new cup in front of me. When I find an amazing cup, it practically jumps off the table. Last year this happened from a handful of washing stations that I cupped, and that is why with this season’s coffees I make sure to do all my cupping “blind.” I never know what coffee I’m cupping. Each coffee has the same chance as the cup before it, no matter what washing station it came from. It has to shine on it’s own and impress me with it’s unique character, and that goes for coffees from our own washing station too. When I do find that “wow” cup, I’ll often pick up the cup and drink it like I would at a cafe (It’s good etiquette to ask the other cuppers first for their ok on this if you aren’t cupping alone).

Hand over the dets! What are some beginner details that aspiring coffee cuppers should know?

For each sample, or lot, of coffee sourced I roast about 150g to a light roast. Before it’s ground, I carefully measure out 12g of coffee into five separate cups. I grind to a course setting and cover with a paper until I have a table of around 8 different lots ground and ready to cup. I have my water boiler turned on with fresh clean water and I get out my Cup of Excellence (COE) cupping form and start smelling the dry coffee grounds. Smelling the dry fragrance is one of the most important steps in cupping. What do I smell? In Burundi coffees I often get bright raspberry and citrus fruits when the coffee is at its best. Next I add about 200 ml of just off boiled water and smell the wet aroma. The key reason for smelling the wet crust is to make sure all cups are uniform and no defects stand out.

What is “breaking the crust?”

After the coffee has been steeping for four minutes, it forms a bubbly “crust” on the top. Beneath that crust is an intoxicating hit of the coffee’s aroma. When you break the crust, you want to stick your nose right next to the cup to capture in short little sniffs all the amazing aromas being set free as you draw back the crust curtain with a cupping spoon. Watch yourself at this stage, burnt noses happen to the best of us.

What is the strangest cupping description you’ve ever noted?

Hmmm… it would have to be “On the nose, grapefruit with warming spice. In the cup, chocolate with roast beef and a lime finish.”

What keeps you motivated to cup?

I’m in it to find the best cups on the table and in Burundi and then to make sure those farmers are rewarded for their great work. That gets me out of bed in the morning even before I’ve had an espresso.

The End.

All images shot with an iPhone4, edited with VSCO .

June 25, 2013
Early Payday For Burundi Coffee Farmers

We ventured out into rural Burundi as a family last weekend to make early payments to the coffee farmers who are delivering coffee cherries to the new washing station. For weeks, the farmers have been delivering their coffee cherries to collection points we’ve set up near their communities. It’s one of the reasons you’ve heard so little from us, we’ve been busy building the station and organising community coffee delivery to the station. Coffee is one of the few ways these communities make money, and most farmers have to wait until October or as late as December to see any money from their hard work.

Last year, the average coffee farmer in Burundi earned $133 for the entire year. We are trying to change that number for the better in a number of empowering ways. Giving farmers an early payment for the coffee cherries that they have delivered to the Long Miles washing station not only builds trust with the community but it also allows farmers the opportunity to have some funds to get them through the lean months until full payment arrives towards the end of the year.

Each farmer has a card detailing how much coffee they have delivered to the station so far. Goat brochettes anyone?

^ Hello! This guy had me at first glance. The minute I saw him I knew I had to find a way to photograph him. There is always a crowd.

We were busy checking out a pig (in the wooden cage to the right) while farmer payday got underway. Getting organized.All tuckered out. Thanks for the photo, Coffee Guy, because one of my goals is to get IN FRONT of the camera more so that my boys remember I was there!

You can buy Burundi coffee that supports the washing station build and the coffee farmers delivering coffee to the station from Dogwood Coffee. They are donating $4 a bag towards the Long Miles Coffee washing station. Thanks Dogwood!

May 17, 2013

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