Tag: Burundi washing stations

2020: the year in review.
What a year it’s been.

Lately, the thought of sitting down to reflect on the past year has felt like an overwhelming task. What really happened to 2020? It goes without saying that last year was unlike any other. For us, 2020 held challenges that were unique to the season and challenges that aren’t all that ‘unprecedented’ when it comes to producing coffee.

The year started off much like any other. Our team worked alongside our neighboring coffee farming communities, preparing coffee farms for the opening of the coffee season and expectant for a harvest better than the previous one. Everything seemed to be on track until the Burundian national coffee board announced a sudden change in regulations.

In order to qualify for an annual production licence, coffee producers were required to have 75% of their forecasted crop in the bank [to be held in trust to pay farmers]. Coming off the backend of a harvest where 25% of the country’s normal export was produced, having these funds in advance was unreasonable for most producers- ourselves included. If any coffee producers were unable to comply with the new regulations, they would lose their washing station(s) along with the permission to produce coffee ever again.

Scrambling to comply in time while the threat of a derailed harvest hung in the air made for a hard couple of months, but thankfully we were able to find a way. Then came the news of how rapidly the virus was spreading across the globe. Neighboring East African countries quickly plunged into strict lockdowns and the Burundi airport shut down. It was the first time in a long time that we had to ask visitors not to travel to Burundi for coffee harvest.

Image taken by Kristy J. Carlson for Imbibe Magazine.

The pandemic aligned itself almost perfectly with the start of coffee harvest. Our thoughts flew straight to: “How can we build protocols to keep the farming communities that we work with and the team safe while continuing to produce coffee?” In a country with limited access to testing facilities and healthcare, where the government enacted few official controls, and COVID-19 updates were mostly shared through the radio, we assumed both the best and worst for Burundi.

All things considered, there was still a lot of beauty and joy found in harvest. The coffee trees continued to fruit and ripen. With hand-washing stations and social distancing in place, we were able to keep the washing stations open for cherry delivery. We celebrated from both near and far with members of our team as they welcomed babies into the world, got married, and as their families grew. We were able to pay coffee farmers on time for their hard work this season! Coffee was exported from Burundi faster than ever before. We continued with the build of Ninga, our third Long Miles Washing Station. Long Miles Kenya was launched, and we saw our first inaugural coffee harvest season in Kirinyaga County, Mount Kenya take place. The seed has been planted and preparations are now underway for the formal launch of Long Miles Uganda.

The year was certainly marked by hardship, loss and a specific set of words constantly strung together. “Unprecedented.” “Uncertainty.” “New normal.” It was also a year marked by bravery and courage; community and connection. Thank you for standing alongside us; for continuing to support Long Miles Coffee.

What lies ahead for us.

In 2017, Ben was sitting with a group of people at The Pulley Collective and an esteemed presenter proclaimed, “There is no sustainable coffee in the world.” Ben was speaking right after him about the hope we see in Burundi coffee, but he approached the stage with the wind out of his sails thinking, “Is it really possible to create a sustainable coffee company?” Ever since that day our company has been combating the harsh realities of coffee’s future with visions of hope. And in 2020, not only was the future of coffee challenged, but the human race’s future as well. It’s been a tough time to keep hoping, but also an impossible time not to grip onto the ship of hope with everything we’ve got.

Here’s how we plan to keep hope alive in 2021:
1. A coffee farm in Kenya. We hope to start one. And that’s it for now.
2. This year we started a pilot project in Kenya and we have loved the results. We hope to continue this project and expand it in 2021.
3. We hope to build a community washing station and a model coffee farm in Uganda.
4. We hope to fully open our Ninga Washing Station in Burundi. It has taken three years for us to get government approval for this washing station. Farmers who currently spend hours walking to the Bukeye Washing Station will have their livelihoods vastly improved by the presence of the Ninga Washing Station. With a keen focus on coffee quality, we will be using newly designed sealable fermentation silos, one of the newest approaches to coffee fermentation.
5. We have plans for the expansion of Trees For Kibira, our reforestation and environmental impact program, within both Burundi and Kenya.
An additional founder’s hope is that we live out of a place of thriving, and support our team to do the same. We are not speaking about a place of great excess, but we have often lived in a place of survival only, cutting all expenses and depending on unreliable pre-financing methods to pay farmers and scrape by. While this can be an efficient way to produce coffee, the instability and stress of it doesn’t always honour the people on our team who work so hard to grow, produce, export and sell this product that we all love so much. We hold a deep belief that the only way to make coffee truly sustainable is to honour the value chain and everyone in it.

How do you plan to keep hope alive in 2021? We’d love to hear from you.
January 27, 2021
Before + Now
Cultivating Connection With Coffee Farmers Through Cameras

The coffee farmers we work with have always been central to who we are, but until 2017 their stories were always filtered and shared by me- an outsider looking in. We began Long Miles thinking we knew what farmers needed, but could we really know if we never experienced life through their eyes? In the first years of Long Miles we were so absorbed in the challenges of building a business in Burundi that we didn’t slow down enough to consider this.
Milda conducting the first round of
Before + Now in 2017
Milda with Before + Now participant Dorothy
In early 2017 a PhD candidate named Milda Rosenberg changed that. She came from Norway to intern with us in Burundi and she brought with her some cameras. Her goal was to give cameras to coffee farmers so that she could learn more about what they valued and their challenges. I had never heard of this approach and was really intrigued. In her months with us, we overwhelmed Milda with all sorts of young start up company needs, “Fire up our Instagram account!” “Help with farmer pay-day!” “Take the truck and wait in line for fuel!” “Photograph harvest!” Milda ended up handing out the cameras to farmers when she had just a few weeks remaining in Burundi. Despite the truncated time table, the results of her project opened our eyes to a new way of connecting and thinking. After Milda left, I was determined to carry on the project and in 2018 we re-launched it.

Once we began we got glimpses into farmers’ everyday lives, which felt like sacred ground. It was such an honor to meet newborn babies, attend funerals, and learn to love their sons and daughters through their photographs. Our team sat for hours on small wooden village benches hearing important stories and digesting meaningful photographs. Images of devastating rains wiping away valuable coffee trees were sandwiched between pictures of smiling children and church services- a testament to the complexity of life. We learned new things about how farmers approach the painstaking and time consuming acts of caring for, harvesting, and transporting coffee.

Forty farmers, twenty from Bukeye and twenty from Heza, participated in Before + Now. This is such a small amount of what they photographed and had to say- but it’s a start in sharing the beauty of their lives and perspectives.
November 18, 2020
Long Miles Coffee’s Post-Harvest Update: news from the farm, field, and cupping lab
From the Farm

collected and translated by Joy Mavugo in conjunction with Robyn-Leigh van Laren from the Long Miles Story team

There was much rejoicing at the Long Miles Coffee Washing Stations recently as farmer payday took place. Payday is always one heavy with anticipation, excitement, and chaos of the happiest kind. It’s the one day of the year when all of the coffee farming families that we work with receive payment for the coffee cherries that they delivered during harvest season.

“ Payment day is a special day. It’s a day of building trust between a farmer and a buyer.”

– Honorate Dugunya, a coffee farmer from Ninga hill.

In the days leading up to it, our team works hard behind the scenes filling every person’s envelope with the season’s earnings and preparing for one big reunion with the coffee farming communities that we work with. This year, payday may have looked different from how it usually does but our team is unwaveringly grateful that it took place. We also celebrated a milestone; making our first set of payments at the newly built Ninga Washing Station site.

“To have a washing station on Ninga hill is like a country that fought for independence and got it. I will always celebrate this victory. No one will take it from us.”

– Paul Ntahondi, a coffee farmer from Ninga hill

There is an endless list of things that we are thankful for this harvest season. Paying every single coffee farmer that we work with is one of them.

From the Farm

written by Seth Nduwayo, Quality Control Manager for Long Miles Coffee

Frequently, I have referred to rain as a big challenge. We could lack it when it was expected and vice versa. For three months, from July to September, there was no rain as it was a dry season. Now we are at the end of September. October is knocking from the horizon. We have experienced some rain yet at Bujumbura and sometimes at Gitega, Budeca, where we took our coffee for dry milling. As coffee is not out on drying beds you may wonder why the blessing (rain) is evoked again as a challenge. In fact, the rain comes with cold weather, and humidity increases in warehouses. Thus, when the relative humidity is higher than that of coffee in storage, the latter start regaining moisture. As you can hear this, the end of one battle opens a door to the next. So, today we fight for having all the remaining lots milled, hand-picked, and sealed in Grain-pro as soon as possible. When all coffee is in Grain-pro, then we don’t have to worry about rainfall the same as before. This is the battle we will be fighting over the next couple of weeks.

From the Lab

written by David Stallings, Roaster Relations for Long Miles Coffee

This week we began our final dry-milling program for the Burundi season. Milling, which involves removing the parchment layer, or, in the case of naturally processed coffee, removing the fruit that has dried around the coffee seed, is, by itself, a speedy process. After the seeds are stripped of their botanical accouterment, they pass through various grading apparatuses. These include devices that separate the seeds by size, density, and color. Many metric tons of coffee can pass through the mill in a single day. The process that follows, however, is low tech and time-consuming. That process is, of course, the handpicking of the coffee. Absolutely critical to the production of top quality specialty coffee, our lots get handpicked upwards to five times! In a few short days, all of our Burundi lots for the year will have been milled. The next two to three weeks will be filled with handpicking the coffee.

It is a race to the finish from here. As Seth mentioned in his section above, we want to get the lots handpicked as soon as possible because that allows us to get them into Grain-pro and thus hermetically sealed and safe from the impending rainy season. Too frequently, as a green coffee buyer, I have seen the onset of a rainy season in any given country of production, as a strike against the quality of the green coffee. This is especially true for coffees that are on the margins of not being fully dried. Coffees for which taking on a small amount of moisture pushes them into territory that encourages the quick degradation of what we perceive as freshness. I am so pleased to know firstly, that all of our lots were dried exceptionally well this year and, secondly, that our timeline concerning getting these final lots into Grain-pro is looking very good.

Once this process is complete we will continue loading containers and sending them around the world. A record year for us, we have already loaded and dispatched two containers from this harvest. In a few short weeks that number will be seven. The past two years have been important ones in strengthening relationships with importing partners in various markets. While we work directly with as many of our roasting partners as possible, we have found it essential to have key relationships in various markets around the world. Not only are these partners service providers, moving the coffees from Burundi to their destination market, but they are also critical in helping facilitate relationships with smaller roasting partners. This year, our coffees can be found with the following importers:
- Osito Coffee, North America – East Coast
- Royal Coffee, North America – West Coast
- List & Beisler – Europe
- Upstream – Australia*
- Seven Oaks – South Africa
If you are in one of these markets and interested in coffee this year, please reach out to me. I will be only too happy to work on a plan with you to either send you samples directly or connect you with one of the above-mentioned importers. Whether we are sending you samples and handling contracts directly or having an importing partner help facilitate the process, it is so important to us that we connect with you personally and work together on and through the process!

*If you are in the Australian market and interested in coffees from this season, please reach out to our Burundi Lab Manager, Jordan, who was not able to make it to Burundi this year due to the pandemic, and is native to and currently located in Australia!
October 5, 2020
HARVEST UPDATE
From the Farm, Field and Lab

From the Farm

collected and translated by Joy Mavugo in conjunction with Robyn-Leigh van Laren from the Story Team.

It’s been a hard week for Burundi. On Monday 8 June 2020, we heard the news that Burundi’s late president H.E Pierre NKURUNZIZA had very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Flags were lowered to half-mast and the country went into a week-long mourning period to remember the person who lead and governed Burundi for close to 15 years.

“When I first heard the news, I couldn’t accept what others were telling me. Two days before, the police stopped people on the road saying that the president was passing by. The second person who told me was my friend who said that the president had died from disease. I asked him: “Who told you that news? Is that disease CORONA?” He told me that he didn’t know. After realizing that it’s true, that the president died, the first question I asked is: “Who will give the presidential chair to his successor at the big ceremony in August?” Death is not afraid. Even if people call themselves great, only God will live forever.” – Céléstin from Mikuba hill.

“It was really scary news, because it happened just after the elections. Burundians, especially from the hill where I live, have bad memories of elections. When I heard the news, I didn’t even ask the cause of his death. Immediately, my heart told me that things will happen again like they did in 1993. I went home and started listening to the radio to hear what the situation is in the country. The good thing is that after his death, no other Burundians have lost their lives. Only…it’s still too early to believe. The lesson I’ve learnt from the president’s death is that there is no great person in the world. God is powerful, and he does what he wants on earth and heaven.” – Bénoit from Mikuba hill.

“When I heard the news, I was very surprised. At first, I didn’t believe what people were saying. I am now wondering: what will happen next? What makes me happy is that things are quiet in the country and there is peace. Nothing is impossible. Three days in the country without a president, and life is normal. The world has surprises in store for us.” – Noël from Mikuba hill

Constructing drying tables at the new Ninga Washing Station

From the Field

written by Seth Nduwayo, Quality Control Manager

Weather
It would sound as if I have an endless repetition of climate stories. One can wonder, “isn’t there anything else more interesting you can be talking about?” However, this is to emphasize how severe and strange the climate is. So, when our partners hear that we have an Environmental Bottom Line among our four bottom lines, they find that it was not a mere choice of words. Rather, it is a real and serious challenge we have to face. While previously I shared with you the lack of rain that caused some berries to dry on the trees, before yesterday we got unexpectedly some rain in Bukeye and a lot of it at Heza, Kayanza. This is not bad as it will help some berries to ripen. However, for trees that didn’t have berries these will start blossoming. And as after this little rain sunny days are going to follow, then the blossoms may dry because they will have sprouted in a wrong period.

Ninga Washing Station
I also spoke about how Ninga farmers are so happy that finally Ninga project is in course of implementation and they can deliver close, without the long walks. As Long Miles Team, we share the happiness with those farmers because Ninga has started to bear fruits. In fact, the first lots that were collected in Ninga and surrounding hills have been taken off the table, this week. Though I referred to our infrastructures at Ninga as basic, I believe that the quality of coffee that was processed there is at the same level or even higher than what is produced at our old stations. My fear is that the supply might be too much lower than the demand. However, we expect the next harvest to be good enough to satisfy all Ninga lovers in both quality and quantity.

A No-Visitor Harvest
COVID-19, has changed the way humanity lives and works; the coffee industry was not spared. We used to host guests who came to visit our factories (Washing Stations). They came for various purposes but we enjoyed hosting them. Some were customers, others were interns, students who want to be at an origin, Cup of Excellence judges, etc. Personally, I really liked that they were coming. In fact, even when they may not buy our delicious coffees, at least they would tell a story about us or recommend their friends to partner with us. In this way, our reputation kept expanding, with many eyewitnesses. This year no more new visitors so far, except those following on Instagram or receiving our newsletters. I wish COVID ended so that we come back to normal.

Image taken by Julianna Elizabeth Herr

From the Lab

written by David Stallings, Roaster Relations

Since the last Harvest Update email, I have received two boxes of table samples. Two more are currently en route; one has just made it to New York City the other is in Nairobi. The coffees I have tasted the past two weeks represent the first coffees delivered to our washing stations this season and, as such, are from quite small lots – some projected to be well less than one bag in size once milled.

Every single table sample produced will be coming through our East Coast lab [i.e. my basement] this year. This includes everything from our highest quality parchment, which is destined to become micro-lots, to our “Cherry-B” lots. (Cherry-B being the underripe and overripe cherries delivered by farmers. We are legally obliged to purchase these coffees from farmers but process them separately as to not lower the quality of our micro-lot coffees.)

The majority of my time over the next two months will be spent analyzing green coffee samples, roasting and cupping said samples, and constructing lots based on volumes, quality, flavor profile, hills, and demand. This is some of the most enjoyable and rewarding work I have the pleasure of doing. I could not be more thrilled to report that the table samples I have cupped thus far this season are of absolute stellar quality.

Beyond cup quality, the physical characteristics of the lots I have analyzed thus far have been quite reassuring. Every lot I have measured the water activity of has fallen between our desired 0.45-0.55 a_w, with the majority of them being in the lower half of this range. Based on the quality of our landed lots from last year, this is exactly where we want our coffees sitting for optimal longevity and freshness.

Links worth checking out
- Our friends at La Cabra recently shared a video shot by Paw Gissel during their 2018 visit to Burundi. Check it out here.
- An interesting NPR piece on COVID-19 and Africa can be found here.
- A New York Times article on the death of President Nkurunziza can be found here.
- An Al Jazeera article on what happens in Burundi following the president’s passing can be found here.
June 15, 2020
We Own The Land + Dukomezi Bikogwa

Dukomezi Bikogwa Means “Keep Working Hard” in Kirundi. Writing has been such hard work for me in the last few weeks, as anyone following this blog may have noticed. We have been consumed with the details of making the coffee washing station here in rural Burundi a reality. Mix that with motherhood,writing for the always lovely Babble, and launching (with our friends at Dogwood coffee) a Burundi roasted coffee that gives back to this washing station project… and you have one wordless momma. I’m sorry, because there is so much I want to say. Uff da, well… it’s not too late, right?

Yesterday (and today… because in Burundi of course it takes much longer than just one day) we purchased the land for the washing station. A little piece of Africa. Getting to this point has been a cultural lesson and a journey of total chaos. When we shared the vision for this community owned washing station with the leaders of the area, they’ve began having weekly meetings on every surrounding hill about delivering their coffee to our (not yet born) coffee washing station. They are the ones who paved the way within the community so that the land purchase could happen. The land we have purchased has a deep history. Before the war(s) the land WAS a washing station. Now it’s covered in eucalyptus trees for firewood and long flowing grass. I love the idea that we are returning this beautiful piece of land to what it once was. Since the war in 1992, the farmers in this area have been getting HALF of what they should be for their coffee, mostly because of the distance from them to the nearest station.

Hope, in my mind, is change for the better in this community WITHOUT giving short-lived free aid. This project is about long term, generational improvement for the coffee farmers of Burundi…. THAT is worth so much.

Please buy Burundi coffee from Dogwood to support this project. They are giving an amazing $4.00 a lb. back to the construction and operation of this washing station. You can buy online here, and yes, they ship countrywide if you in the USA.

February 27, 2013
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)

February 21, 2012

scroll to top

error: