Tag: coffee

  • Long Miles Coffee’s Post-Harvest Update: news from the coffee farm, field and cupping lab

    Long Miles Coffee’s Post-Harvest Update: news from the coffee 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

    Green coffee cherries on a coffee tree

    The first of September usually means the end of the dry season in Burundi, and the start of the country’s second rainy season. During this time of the year, many communities of farmers usually shift their focus from coffee to other subsistence crops (such as maize, potatoes and cassava) that need to be planted by the time rain starts to fall.

    “We have to hurry and finish everything before September because once the rain starts, there will be many things to do. You can’t work on activities meant for the dry season during the rainy season. My husband is supposed to be mulching and fertilizing the soil of our coffee plantations while I plant other crops, but he’s still busy pruning our coffee trees. I’ve had to stop what I was doing to help him look for mulch.”

    Jeannette Ngendakumana is a coffee farmer from Gaharo hill

    Meanwhile, some farmers are still focused on picking coffee cherries. Due to the irregular weather patterns that Burundi experienced this year, the country’s coffee harvest came to an end while many farmers still had unripened cherries on their coffee trees.

    “Harvest might be over at the washing stations, but it’s still going on at home. There are many cherries that need to be picked. We are still in the dry season, and the coffee trees aren’t getting much water. The small amount of water they do get is being fed straight to the cherries that are still ripening and haven’t been picked. These leftover cherries also cause the number of antestia bugs found in the coffee farmers to multiply. The only way to prevent this is by picking them. Many farmers can’t accept losing so many cherries after harvest, so they continue to process coffee at home: picking, sorting cherries, hand-pulping and then drying. Coffee traders have permission from the government to buy parchment coffee at a fixed price from coffee farmers. I still have one hundred kilograms of coffee to sell.”

     Joseph Haragasika is a coffee farmer from Gaharo hill.

    From the Field

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

    Sack of parchment coffee on the ground

    Previously I talked about how our Lab in Bujumbura was pushing hard to have a lot of samples processed and dispatched at that time to David (in the States where the main Lab is based, because of the threat by COVID-19). Because of the hard work of the Buja Lab Team, our process chain was always active. And today, I am grateful for the step where we are at and I can congratulate Mr. Zebron (Long Miles Coffee Lab Assistant) for having delivered most of our expectations. This week, intensive Lab work was done. All the urgent samples were processed and dispatched to the Lab in the States. This is a good thing as lot construction becomes quicker and milling plans become definite. We can expect to see the activities moving in a faster way, from the beginning of September.

    Liar or dreamer, I ignore what you will think of me. Having a container ready in August was done, as promised. But shipping should take place early September, which is good as the earliest, so far, we have been able to make is early October. The reason is that export paperwork is not a quick-do-it-yourself kit. In fact, when we had everything ready, an official in charge of issuing the grades confirmation certificate (taxation report) was out for three consecutive days. When he was supposed to come back, coincidentally it was a day off as it was an election day (for hill leaders). Even for other signatories, we observe similar delays and we never stop learning!

    From the Lab

    written by David Stallings, Roaster Relations for Long Miles Coffee

    Person pouring water from a kettle into cups of coffee
    Image taken by Julianna Elizabeth Herr

    Echoing Seth’s message, the busy days in the lab continue. It has been a pleasure to see much of the work from the last two months come to a point of fruition in the form of final, milled lot samples. The milling quality has been excellent and the coffees are so balanced and clean. If you have not received samples yet and are expecting them, do not fret. Our focus at this time is on moving lots through the process as quickly as possible, in order to allow milling and export to happen as quickly as possible. In the end, this will serve everyone in the supply chain.

    I so greatly appreciate the tone of optimism and enthusiasm in Seth’s section of this week’s newsletter. The entire team has been pushing hard to move coffee as quickly as possible. Hours after Seth emailed me the copy for his section, however, we did run into what is currently a concerning situation. The dry mill which is contracted to mill and clean our coffees this year has been on strike. The strike concerns the mill owner and specifics surrounding former-employee pensions. In ever humbling Burundi coffee sector fashion, we are monitoring the situation patiently. A report I received just minutes ago relayed that the situation will hopefully be resolved early next week. That said, there is no way to know at this time. I will continue to use this space in these emails to update all of you concerning the situation.

    As always, if you feel that you have not been heard regarding your needs for this season, please reach out to me!

    Links worth checking out

  • Long Miles Coffee Harvest update: news from the coffee farm, field and cupping lab.

    Long Miles Coffee Harvest update: news from the coffee farm, field and cupping lab.

    Long Miles Coffee Scout pruning coffee trees

    From the Farm

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

    Every year, when our coffee harvest comes to an end, the Long Miles Coffee Scouts open up the “Pruning Campaign”. During this campaign, the Scouts move between the hills where coffee is grown, guiding the communities of coffee growers that we work with through the practice of pruning and stumping their coffee trees. The Scouts help these farmers to identify older or unhealthy coffee trees that should be pruned, stumped or uprooted from their farms. They also encourage farmers to weed and mulch the land where their coffee is grown to prepare the soil for the next year’s coffee harvest.

    “In 2017, I pruned all of the coffee trees in one of my coffee plantations. In 2020, three years later, I picked double the amount of coffee cherry than what I used to harvest before pruning. The Scouts have helped me and the other coffee farmers in my community to understand the different ways of taking care of our coffee plantations. I remember the first time the Scouts told me about pruning and stumping older coffee trees. In my heart, I was thinking: “These young people don’t know what they’re talking about. Cutting coffee trees? No way.” Now, I am encouraging other farmers to prune and stump their coffee trees.

    Firmin Niyibizi is a coffee farmer from Gaharo hill. He has two plantations and 300 coffee trees.

    Burundian burlap coffee sacks

    From the Field

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

    Our washing station that remained opened to farmers the latest closed the harvest on July 31st. Two of our stations have taken all coffee off of the drying tables this week. The station that still has some coffee on drying tables is Heza and with the end of August, at most, every coffee should be taken off the tables. We are proud of what the teams have been able to achieve. There were a lot of challenges but they have shown that they can transform them into opportunities. Briefly, in November 2019, the Government announced that they wanted to come back to operating in the coffee sector (what was interpreted as re-nationalizing the coffee industry). No one knew what had to happen next. The regulations have been made unfavorable. For example, we were obliged to have on our accounts an amount that can pay 75% of expected cherry, in advance. That money couldn’t serve in other operations except for farmers’ payment. Consequently, getting the production license was so difficult. But today we endured and have even the exportation license. I can sit and sigh, whispering to myself and say: “God fought at our side. The harvest was difficult but we made it through. Though we are not sure of the future, we hope to always stand”.

    As for the dry milling activities, we are progressing well. Here, also, we have challenges (which is normal). I previously talked about delays in milling program execution, lack of space for hand picking, power outage, forklift breaking down, bag marking that is slower…each of those challenges has happened to us. However, today we are happy that we have close to a full container of hand-picked coffee and 165 bags are already taxed (grade confirmation by the national coffee board: ODECA). If everything goes smoothly, we expect to ship our first container before the end of August, which will be the first year we are able to do so.

    Cupping in the Long Miles Cupping Lab
    Image taken by Julianna Elizabeth Herr

    From the Lab

    written by David Stallings, Roaster Relations for Long Miles Coffee

    These are very busy days in the lab. But, they have also been very encouraging days. The coffees are tasting absolutely wonderful. This week, for the first time this season, I received not only table samples in my weekly package, but also some finished, milled pre-shipment samples. Efficiency has been a huge focus this year. Specifically, efficiency surrounding the time it takes to get coffee ready for export. Between the incredible work of our team in Burundi, the execution of new (and ever-evolving) quality control systems, and the strong logistics partners we have lined up in North America, Europe, and Australia, I am very confident that this will be our best year yet from the perspective of shipment timeliness.

    It has been such a pleasure to be engaged in ongoing/regular communication with so many of you about your needs for this year. If you feel that you have not been heard regarding your needs for this season, by all means, please reach out to me!

  • 2020 HARVEST UPDATE

    2020 HARVEST UPDATE

    From the farm, field and lab.

    Over the coming weeks, we plan to share updates from the ground in Burundi; updates from the farm, field and lab.

    Burundian coffee farmer and her son
    Emilliene, a coffee farmer from Nkonge hill, with their son

    FROM THE FARM

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

    “This coffee harvest is going well -much better than last season but it has also been challenging. When you look at the coffee trees, there are so many cherries. But, there are a few things that I’m worried about. Firstly, there has been too much rain. It’s been destroying roads, houses, and so many other things in our community. Some of the coffee cherries are taking more time to ripen because of the rain. Since the start of harvest in April, I have only picked and delivered cherries to the washing station two times. The general elections are also coming up. I don’t like it when the elections happen in Burundi. In 1993, many of my family members, including my husband, were killed. When I think of the elections, all I can think of is the hard times we’ve had to go through since then.”

    Long Miles team cupping Burundian coffee
    Seth Nduwayo, Quality Control Manager and Joy Mavugo, Story Assistant

    FROM THE FIELD

    written by Seth Nduwayo, Quality Control Manager.

    “Today, I will talk about weather/climate. In fact, the climate in parts of Burundi where we are operating is unpredictable. We may be expecting a rainy period and this delays or vice versa. For example, at the end of August we had some rain and this caused the blossoming of coffee. Then, we thought that harvest will start as early as February instead of March. Still, we experienced some sunny days between January and February. However, February was very rainy- something we usually experience in April. As the cherries didn’t have enough sunlight, they ripened later and up until today, there are too many cherries in the plantations that are still green. This caused harvest to start later, on April 15th (a month later than expected). Most farmers affirm having a lot of cherries that will take long enough to ripen.”

    FROM THE LAB

    written by David Stallings, Roaster Relations.

    “Along with concrete plans the world over, the current global pandemic has forced us to reimagine our lab situation for the 2020 Harvest. Long Miles was incredibly lucky to have the lionhearted Jordan Verdouw managing our Bujumbura lab for the 2019 Harvest. Jordan did an absolutely top-notch job screening coffees, providing cupping feedback to all members of our team, and also setting up systems for success in future harvests. While we had every intention to bring Jordan back into the Bujumbura lab for the 2020 season, the universe has decided to keep Jordan in his native Australia for the foreseeable future. When we realized we could not bank on travel restrictions lifting during the harvest, we shifted and decided to move the entire lab to the States. As samples come off the drying beds they will be dispatched weekly. From the East Coast of the States they will be analyzed (physically and sensorially). The biggest boon from this scenario is that samples should be getting to our roasting partners earlier than ever this year, as they will all leave from the States.”

  • BURUNDIANS AND COFFEE

    BURUNDIANS AND COFFEE

    Burundi Coffee, Burundi, Long Miles Coffee Project, East Africa

    Like in any culture, there are no absolutes that apply to everyone. There are many Burundians who do drink coffee, but generally they are not the farmers who grow it. Whenever we ask coffee farmers if they’ve tasted their own coffee, the response is the same almost every time:

    “NO, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO.”

    Coffee trees grow almost everywhere in Burundi’s higher elevation ranges, but coffee beans are hard to find outside of niche markets in the capitol city. The coffee cherries are too valuable for most farmers to keep and dry for home consumption, so the coffee crop goes to a washing station where it can make cash on the kilogram. It’s a common daily ritual for farmers to drink a glass of fresh milk or a thermos of hot tea, but almost never coffee. This might be because when Burundi was a Belgian colony, Burundians were forced to grow at least 50 coffee trees but never had the opportunity to drink it. 

    Coffee arrived in Burundi with the Belgians in the 192o’s. Growing coffee wasn’t a choice for Burundians from 1933 until Belgian rule fell away in 1962. When it did, many farmers ripped out their coffee trees, choosing instead to plant subsistence crops like bananas or cassava. Those who kept their coffee trees did so with little enthusiasm for coffee itself, having seen very little compensation for their efforts under Belgian rule. War, political uprising, a monarchy, democracy, and global warming have followed in the decades since. It has only been since the early 2000’s that producing specialty coffee has become a focus in Burundi. With such a turbulent past, it’s no wonder that farmers have had little opportunity to taste their own coffee. We wanted to change that for a farming couple named Philippe and Sabine.

    Philippe and Sabine live on a piece of land tucked underneath Gitwe hill, a stone’s throw away from Heza. They grow just shy of 500 coffee trees in between a sea of tea plants and banana trees on a piece of land inherited from Philippe’s father- a coffee farmer before them. 

    Have you ever tasted your coffee?

    “Never.” 

    What do you think it tastes like?

    “It must be nice, otherwise you wouldn’t ask us to keep growing it.”

    How do you feel about learning how to make coffee today?

    “Excited. When we have cherries again, we’ll be able to make it ourselves at home.”

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    Burundi coffee, Burundi, Long Miles Coffee Project, East Africa

    Burundi Coffee, Burundi, Long Miles Coffee Project, East Africa

    How does it taste?

    “It needs sugar.”

    (after adding milk and sugar)

    It’s so good! It’s delicious.

    It was hard work brewing coffee with Philippe and Sabine in the hills where it’s grown. There are coffee farmers the world over who spend their days caring for this precious crop they might never get the chance to taste. It makes one realise that it’s a privilege to be able to buy, brew and drink coffee so easily in other parts of the world every day.

  • WHERE CAN I FIND LONG MILES COFFEE?

    WHERE CAN I FIND LONG MILES COFFEE?

    Where in the world is our coffee?

    Our roasting partners world-wide are beginning to put our coffee on their menus and we would LOVE for you to check them out! Here are some of the places you can find Long Miles Coffees (there are certainly more). If we missed your roastery and you want to be added to this list, please send an email over to info@longmilescoffee.com.

     

    North America

    West

    Blue Bottle – Oakland, CA – USA

    Dark Horse – San Diego, CA – USA

    Equator – San Rafael, CA – USA

    Feast – Redding, CA – USA

    Huckleberry – Denver, CO – USA

    Olympia – Olympia, WA – USA

    Phil & Sebastian – Calgary, AB – Canada

    Ritual – San Francisco, CA – USA

    Saint Frank – San Francisco, CA – USA

    Sisters – Sisters, OR – USA

     

    Midwest

    Almanac Coffee – Duluth, MN, USA

    Bootstrap Coffee – St Paul, MN – USA

    Carabello – Newport, KY

    Deeper Roots – Cincinnati, OH – USA

    Dogwood – Minneapolis, MN – USA

    Fika – Lutsen, MN – USA

    Five & Hoek – Wheaton, IL – USA

    Four Letter Word – Chicago, IL – USA

    Madcap – Grand Rapids, MI – USA

    Pilcrow – Milwaukee, WI – USA

    Ruby – Nelsonville, WI – USA

    Stone Creek Coffee – Milwaukee, WI – USA

    Three Story Coffee – Jefferson City, MO – USA

    Wesley Andrews Coffee – Minneapolis, MN – USA

     

    Northeast

    Brandywine – Wilmington, DE – USA

    Carrier – Northfield, VT – USA

    George Howell – Boston, MA – USA

    Gimme! – Ithaca, NY – USA

    Giv Coffee – Canton, CT – USA

    Little Amps – Harrisburg, PA – USA

    Paradiso Farm – Charlotte, VT – USA

    Parlor – Brooklyn, NY – USA

    Passenger – Lancaster, PA – USA

    Sey – Brooklyn, NY – USA

    Southdown – Long Island, NY – USA

    Vibrant Coffee Roasters – Philadelphia, PA – USA

     

    Southeast

    Buddy Brew – Tampa, FL – USA

     

    Europe

    Northern Europe

    Johan & Nyström – Stockholm, Sweden

    Kafferäven Per Nordby – Göteborg, Sweden

    La Cabra – Copenhagen, Denmark

     

    Western Europe

    Hoppenworth & Ploch – Frankfurt, Germany

    Populus Coffee – Berlin, Germany

     

    Southern Europe

    iHeart Coffee – Cyprus

     

    Eastern Europe

    Double Shot – Prague, Czech Republic

    Java – Warsaw, Poland

     

    Australia

     Five Senses – Numerous Locales

    Little Marionette – Rozelle, New South Wales

    Monastery – Adelaide, South Australia

    Padre – Melbourne and Noosaville

     

    Asia

    The Hub – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

     

    Western Asia

    Windrose – Muscat, Oman

  • A HARVEST ROUNDUP

    A HARVEST ROUNDUP

    Heading into the 2019 harvest, the mantra amongst our team was a seemingly simple one: get our first container of coffee out of the country by the end of August. By doing this we would be setting a veritable export record in Burundi; we would also make a Long Miles best. While we did not hit our goal, we did load our first container of coffee, destined for the West Coast of the United States, on September 9th. This was the earliest we have ever loaded a container and we were thrilled.

    As the ever humbling gods of global logistics would have it, our container was not destined to move with the alacrity with which we would have hoped – or, even, could reasonably expect. In fact, our first USA-bound container landed in the States just two weeks before the second, which was loaded in Burundi on November 7th – nearly two full months after the first box was loaded. An unexpected transshipment in a congested Mombasa port caused delays in berthing the vessel. This, combined with the small print which renders our pleas for action completely inaudible to the shipping line, pushed the transit times to extremes – even for a landlocked East African nation.

    Burundi coffee, Specialty coffee, Long Miles Coffee Project, Burundi

    Fortunately, there was another mantra for some key members of the team during this past harvest: dry the coffees perfectly. As many reading will know quite well, the proper drying of coffee is critical in determining a coffees’ longevity. Our team in Burundi, lead by the intrepid Seth Nduwayo, was fierce in their dedication of sticking to strict parameters surrounding water activity. Water activity for each lot had to be below 0.55 aw before the coffee could be moved to the mill. For a number of lots, this meant going through the extra step of putting coffee that was in our washing station warehouse back on the drying tables in order to reach the target water activity level. Though tedious at the time of processing, this level of rigor paid off. An extended journey at sea can be a death march for coffee. This is all the more true for coffees whose moisture and water activity levels are above a certain point. Every single lot from the 2019 harvest produced at Heza and Bukeye arrived in North America in excellent physical condition and tasting wonderful.

    Burundi coffee, Specialty coffee, Long Miles Coffee Project, Burundi
    Pamphile Mpawenayo, manager of Heza and Seth Nduwayo, quality and production manager.

    “DESPITE THE DELAY, THE GAHARO IS SHINING AGAIN THIS YEAR, DARE I SAY EVEN BETTER THAN LAST YEAR! I’M ONCE AGAIN IMPRESSED WITH THE QUALITY THAT LONG MILES IS DELIVERING, WHILE DOING SOME REALLY IMPORTANT GRASSROOTS WORK ON THE GROUND IN BURUNDI.”

    – PHIL ROBERTSON OF PHIL & SEBASTIAN COFFEE ROASTERS

    Though not on the timeline we had hoped for, there is still much cause for celebration when it comes to the timing of this year’s arrivals. Many thanks to our US importing partner, Osito, we were able to land the entirety of our North American-bound coffee earlier than any prior harvest.

    “THIS YEAR’S LOT OF LONG MILES COFFEE ARRIVED ON SCHEDULE AND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. THE GREEN COFFEE IS DENSE WITH EXCELLENT PREPARATION, PERFECT FOR EASY ROASTING. WE ARE PLEASED WITH THE LUSH FLORAL QUALITY OF OUR MICRO LOT. CLEAR, CLEAN FLAVORS OF BROWN SUGAR, ORANGE, AND TEA. WE FIND THE COFFEES HAVE A VIBRANT CITRIC AND TARTARIC ACIDITY WITH A DENSE SILKY BODY.”

    – OLIVER STORMSHACK OF OLYMPIA COFFEE

    Burundi coffee, specialty coffee, Long Miles Coffee Project, Burundi

    It is important to acknowledge that our European-bound coffees did not move with the same speed that we were able to achieve in the States this year. While the coffee is scheduled to arrive at roughly the same time it has in previous years (the Germany-bound container has a current ETA of March 1st), we very much look forward to improving upon the timing of our coffees into Europe for the next harvest and beyond. The aforementioned mantras of the 2019 harvest will remain the same for our 2020 harvest. We are better suited to do this than ever before, thanks to our importing partners in the States and a newly formed relationship in Europe.

    As long-time roasting partners and new relationships alike introduce their 2019 harvest Long Miles lots to their menus, we will make an effort to shine a spotlight on where you can find our coffees. Feel free to reach out to info@longmilescoffee.com if you are interested in finding a roaster in your area who has Long Miles coffee. Keep your eyes on our social media and this blog, where we will be posting further updates about where our coffee can be found. 

  • Too Much Rain

    Too Much Rain

    Burundi coffee, Specialty coffee, Long Miles Coffee Project, Burundi

    “RUGURU (upcountry ) IS BAD. TOO MUCH RAIN.”

    It comes in a message from Anicet, one of our coffee scouts at the end of last year.

    The heavy rains have caused soil to spill down the steep slope our Heza washing station is built on, stopping just short of the cherry reception tanks. Part of the road leading to Heza has crumbled away, making it impossible for anything or anyone to pass. We have to make our way on back roads to reach Heza now, adding an extra hour onto our already two-and-a-half-hour journey.

    The rain started coming down in October and the ground hasn’t been dry since. It’s not unusual to have rain this time of year, but it is unusual to have so much. The reality is, Burundi doesn’t have the kind of infrastructure to handle all this rain. There are no real gutters here. No retaining walls or storm drains. Entire roads wash away, becoming one big deadly beast that makes its way through neighborhoods. This devastation spills over into farmers’ fields, uprooting crops. It breaks down homes, church buildings, erodes roads and sometimes claims lives.

    “YOU CAN’T GO 500M WITHOUT SEEING THE DAMAGE FROM THE RAIN. IT’S TOUCHING EVERYTHING, NOT JUST THE COFFEE.” – Merchicedeck, coffee farmer on Gikungere hill

    We’ve heard heartbreaking stories of friends waking up in the middle of the night, their belongings floating all around them. Families have spent days sweeping and scooping rainwater out of their homes by the bucketful. Raging knee-deep rivers have cut off entire neighbourhoods from one another.

    Burundi Coffee, Specialty Coffee, Long Miles Coffee Project, Burundi

    Last week we took to the coffee hills to see how our farming community was feeling about all the rain. On the way up, the one national road was blocked by piles of mud that had spilled down from the surrounding mountains, making it impossible for cars to pass. Trucks that usually haul goods and fuel across Bujumbura (Burundi’s economic capital) were stopped dead in their tracks. Lines of cars snaked both up and down the road, waiting for the mud to be cleared by hand. We counted two broken pipelines spilling precious water across the road with no one to fix them in sight.

    “THE BEGINNING OF COFFEE HARVEST IS SUPPOSED TO BE A HAPPY TIME FOR US, BUT THE RAIN IS BECOMING OUR ENEMY.” – Pascal, coffee farmer from Munyinya hill

    Burundi coffee, Specialty coffee, Long Miles Coffee Project, Burundi

    This is not just a challenge for Burundi. It’s a hard truth to swallow for South Sudan, Central African Republic, Uganda, DR Congo, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.

    “MY FAMILY’S LIFE STANDS ON COFFEE. WE WERE EXPECTING A LOT OF IT THIS YEAR, BUT DAY BY DAY I WATCH IT DISAPPEAR. THE RIPENING COFFEE CHERRIES AND LEAVES KEEP FALLING OFF THE TREES BECAUSE OF THE HEAVY RAIN.” – Abel, coffee farmer from Munyinya hill

    Almost as quickly as the heavy rains came down, they slipped away again. We celebrate the dry days, our ears still prickling at the sound of rumbling thunder and dreading the pitter-patter of fresh rain.

  • Land for Burundi Coffee

    Following @kristyjcarlson on Twitter and Instagram gets me excited about being part of this family of four that has their hearts set on helping a community in rural Burundi produce amazing coffee. I’m so happy to be a part of it.

    Building a coffee washing station in Burundi has meant taking on an obscenely huge amount of challenges and obstacles on the way to realizing the dream.  Let’s just say accomplishing something like this in Burundi has few more challenges in it than building that lemonade stand in Wisconsin when I was six.

    For months now we have set our sites on building this coffee washing station.  Finding the perfect location was key to making it a success.  After 3 years of sourcing and cupping Burundi coffee, I knew where we needed to be.  The place we were looking for was sitting in the middle of a triangle of the best coffee washing stations producing the best coffee in all of Burundi.  Besides the best coffee, it was a place where farmers are too far to carry their coffee to the nearest station forcing them to sell to local buyers at ridiculously low prices.  It has one river, bringing plenty of fresh clean water to run the de-pulper.  Sitting at the perfect altitude with a micro-climate that is unique and ideal for producing the kind of coffee that makes you (ok, maybe just me) go weak in the knees.

    Three years to make certain of this specific spot.  Months to get all the paperwork done and meet all the farmers to explain the vision.  Weeks to get all the signatures of the owners of the land willing to sell and the neighboring farmers as witnesses. Then, on the last day before signing, we find out that two of the five farmers don’t feel like selling anymore.

    What do we do?  Tomorrow we go back to the land to talk to the farmers.  The area co-op president and commune elder have talked through our vision and are coming with us to make sure that the farmers know the kind of impact this station will have on the lives of all 2,500 families in the four surrounding hills.  If they still decide they don’t want to sell are we back to square one?  No, the commune elder said that we can have the two hectors next to the spot we want that are owned by the commune.  The rivers the same, the slope is great, and the view is stunning.  He gets the vision.  He has caught hope.  He tells us that they will do whatever it takes to see us partner with them.

    We have found our spot and started to put down our roots.  This challenge is just one of many in our way, but if it was easy we wouldn’t need to do it, it would already be done. Am I Worried? No, but we are weeks away from starting to build on land that we still don’t own with money we still have not raised… It will all happen though, it will all happen.

     

    Coffee Guy

     

  • Burundi Cup of Excellence Predictions. How did I do?

    Well, the Burundi Cup of Excellence has come and gone and now the burning question on everyone’s mind is “how did Ben’s predictions turn out?” That and maybe “who were the top 10?”  Those two questions will be answered in the video!  Enjoy.

    Coffee Guy

    Burundi Cup of Excellence. Was I right? from Ben Carlson on Vimeo.

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