Tag: long miles coffee project

  • A guide to Long Miles Coffee in Kenya

    A guide to Long Miles Coffee in Kenya

    October 24, 2020 is a day that will go down in the history books of Long Miles Coffee. The date marks our official launch of Long Miles Kenya, and our first day of coffee harvest in Kirinyaga County. Not long after that, our first fully washed micro-lots of the season hit the drying tables.

    Long Miles Thunguri Coffee Factory in Kirinyaga County, Kenya
    Thunguri Washing Station in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

    How did Long Miles Kenya start?

    In partnership with Haron Wachira from Akili Holdings Ltd., we have refurbished Thunguri Coffee Factory in Kirinyaga County, Mount Kenya (just east of Nyeri County). In the past, the coffee factory existed to serve the Wachira family and a few of their neighbors who grow coffee in the region. While the Akili Group is not solely focused on coffee, we share the same vision of working with small-scale farmers to improve their coffee production, access to markets, and the price paid for the coffee they produce. Long Miles Kenya will be a long-term partnership with the Wachira family, and the communities of coffee growers in the Mount Kenya region. 

    During a year [2020] in which travel was seemingly impossible, our founders, head of quality control, managing director, and story team were able to visit and connect with a community of coffee growers in Kirinyaga County who are committed to producing high quality Kenyan coffee. Check out the highlights from our team’s visit here. We’ve sown the seeds for our Coffee Scout program, and will soon start building a team of young agronomists whose mission will be to work alongside our partner coffee growers, empowering them with best farming practices and any support that they might need to produce quality coffee.

    McKinnon depulper at Long Miles Thunguri Coffee Factory in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

    How did the harvest season go?

    In our inaugural coffee season, (a low harvest year for coffee growers around the country), we collected and processed a small volume of cherry from twenty partner coffee farmers living around Thunguri Coffee Factory, modelling how we produce micro-lots in Burundi. While our inaugural harvest season in Kenya may seem low, building trust within a new community takes time. We’re still listening to, learning from, and getting to know the communities of coffee farming families in the region.

    Our team also visited and worked on quality control measures with other farmer-owned coffee washing stations as well as private estates in the region, and cupped through the coffees that they produced this season. Our intention is always to produce our own coffee, but in these early days of establishing Long Miles Kenya we will also be sharing the coffees produced by other coffee washing stations that we enjoyed tasting on the cupping table. 

    Haron Wachira of Akili Holdings Ltd., and Ben Carlson, co-founder of Long Miles Coffee, at Thunguri Washing Station

    We’ve also been thinking about the possibility of starting a Long Miles Coffee Farm in Western Kenya for a while. After looking for over a year, we’ve found a piece of land at 2200masl, close to the edges of a national forest park in Western Kenya. Follow the updates that Ben shared during his recent trip to Kenya here. We’ll soon be planting our first SL-28 coffee trees on this piece of land, pursuing regenerative farming practices. We’ll also continue the works of our reforestation project, Trees For Kibira, in this region, planting out green belts of trees, and encouraging the practice of shade-grown coffee.

    Where can I find Long Miles Kenya coffee?

    We’ll keep you updated on where you’ll soon be able to find a bag of roasted Long Miles Kenya coffee. In the meantime, we’re receiving pre-shipment sample materials of our Kenyan coffees over the next couple of weeks. If you’re interested in receiving samples, please let us know!

  • What does building Ninga Washing Station mean for the future of coffee on Ninga hill?

    What does building Ninga Washing Station mean for the future of coffee on Ninga hill?

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

    We have been thinking about building a coffee washing station on Ninga hill for years. It’s been on our minds ever since we opened the doors of Bukeye, the first washing station that we built, for our inaugural coffee harvest in Burundi. We wrote about this not so long ago. Looking back, it has taken us close to seven years to make Ninga Washing Station happen. 

    Two Burundian women carrying sacks of coffee on their heads while standing on a dirt path

    Ninga hill is seated in the Butaganzwa Commune, an incredibly competitive and politically-charged area to work in. During those early years of producing coffee, we found that coffee farmers from Ninga and its surrounding sub-hills were streaming into our Bukeye Washing Station, walking more than fifteen kilometres (a journey that can take up to three hours by foot) to deliver their cherries. After speaking with some of these farmers and visiting their coffee farms, our team soon realized that they were producing quality coffee but didn’t want to deliver their cherries to other nearby washing stations because they felt like they couldn’t trust them with their coffee. Corruption, unbalanced scales, mistreatment of the coffee farming community, and delayed payments for coffee delivery broke farmers’ trust with other washing stations that over-promised and under-delivered.

    “Times are not the same. I still remember when I was imprisoned because I refused to stop delivering my own coffee at Bukeye Washing Station. There was a strong hope of having a washing station at home. One night, during that time, I sat in my house thinking about the future of my coffee, but I couldn’t see it.”

    – Tharcisse from Ninga hill in Burundi.

    Hearing a similar, disheartening account from people on Ninga hill over and over again, it was clear to our team that something needed to change. 

    2017

    That opportunity presented itself to us near the end of 2017, when we were able to buy a piece of land seated at 1900masl on Ninga hill that was flanked by the Nkokoma River.

    2018

    We applied to the National Coffee Board at the beginning of the year for authorization to start construction of the washing station. It took ten months for the board to set up a “technical commission” to check that the land had everything it needed. Does it really belong to Long Miles? Check. Is there a fair distance between where our washing station will go and other washing stations in the area? Check. Would coffee farmers in the area find it valuable to have another washing station here? Check. Would processing coffee here have any negative implications on the environment? Check. Will the washing station’s activities be profitable? Check.

    2019

    In October, more than a year after the technical commission had been set up, we were finally able to sign off all of the necessary paperwork and got permission to start the build of Ninga Washing Station. However, the country’s coffee sector was going through major shifts at the time. The restructuring of Burundi’s National Coffee Board coupled with rumblings of the government nationalizing the coffee sector caused a number of delays for the start of construction, and a landslide of uncertainty for coffee producers in the country. 

    2020

    The new National Coffee Board was in place, and the rumours of nationalizing Burundi’s coffee sector were at bay. With harvest opening early April, forty-five newly built drying tables, and our McKinnon yet to be installed, we decided to start producing our first natural processed micro-lots of the season- the only coffees to be processed at Ninga Washing Station that year. By the end of August, we held the first farmer payday day at our official Ninga Washing Station site and celebrated alongside our partnering coffee farmers. 

    “For five years, I’ve didn’t participate in payday because it was far from home. I used to pay someone to go and collect my money on payday. I was so happy to meet with other people from around the entire hill and even saw a friend that I hadn’t seen in twenty years! I thought that she might have died because so many from our generation have. It was a great day.”  

    – Matilda, a seventy-five year-old old coffee farmer from Ninga hill. 

    What does building Ninga Washing Station mean for the future of coffee on Ninga hill?

    “Having a washing station in our area is a big development, not only for coffee farmers but for everyone in our community.”

    During the construction of the washing station, 200 hundred people were employed representing almost the same numbers of households from the community. We’ve been encouraged to hear that the washing station will bring change for those growing coffee in the area too. 

    “What is important is that we now have a washing station at home. Things at the washing station are organized, the farmer card system is fair, and the scales are good. You’re not stealing our coffee. This is encouraging.”

    – Leonard, coffee farmer from Gikungere, close to Ninga hill.

    Many farmers from Ninga hill won’t have to walk as far to deliver their cherries, which will help to shorten the time between coffee being picked and coffee being pulped at our washing station. This shortened time helps to reduce the risk of enzymatic reactions taking place within the coffee cherries that could impart unwanted flavour to the finished cup of coffee, and allows for the greatest potential of consistency going into pulping. 

    “I thought about stopping to grow coffee, but glory to God, the hope that was in me did not accept defeat! This is a victory. It is a miracle! I helped to build the washing station, and am now working as a guard. I have a story to tell to my grandchildren. Ninga Washing Station is bringing a new beginning of growing coffee. In my mind, I am like a new coffee farmer. It is amazing.”

    – Tharcisse from Ninga hill in Burundi. 

    With our newly fitted McKinnon and the final touches happening at the washing station, we’re looking forward to producing fully washed and natural process coffees this season. We’ll also be experimenting with anaerobic lots, so keep your eyes peeled for our updates when coffee harvest opens in Burundi next month!

  • Reflections of Kenya: founder’s thoughts from Kericho.

    Reflections of Kenya: founder’s thoughts from Kericho.

    written by Kristy Carlson, co-founder and Story Director of Long Miles Coffee.

    Long Miles co-founder, Kristy Carlson, standing with her three children huddled together in the middle of a field.

    As my children’s feet hit the earth in Kenya this past December, their whole beings shifted into a truer version of themselves. The joke was up. The mirage of who I had seen them be for two years in the US dropped away. First buds of spring in human form, they unfurled to embrace it all in real time. Their bodies collectively took the deepest breath that they had taken in two years. I may have been doing the same- it was good to be back.  

    People often ask me how our trip to Kenya went. That in itself feels odd. I’m so used to correcting the vernacular of the word trip with the response of, “It wasn’t a trip- we actually live there.” But we don’t live in East Africa anymore. We really don’t. It’s still a strange fact.  

    Older woman wearing leopard print hat and crucifix starting directly at the camera
    Elizabeth from Kericho in Western Kenya.

    So why Kenya? Why now…. during a global pandemic? Isn’t producing coffee in Burundi enough? Like many things within our company, it came down to relationship. 

    Ben met Haron at a coffee conference in early 2017. Haron was a keynote speaker sharing about his work with the organization he had started, Akili Group. His desire to positively impact his Kenyan family and neighbors through agriculture caught Ben’s attention and lead to back-and-forth discussions over the following years. 

    A couple standing among coffee trees on a coffee farm in Kenya
    Haron and Margaret Wachira

    Years ago, Haron’s uncle had started Thunguri Coffee Factory, near Mount Kenya. It began as a small coffee factory dedicated to Haron’s family and a few neighboring farmers, but for the last two decades the coffee factory has sat idle as aging equipment and leaders could not maintain its profitability. Haron’s passion to revitalize the coffee factory and find new in-roads to improve not only the coffee but his neighbors’ livelihoods felt like a partnership meant for us.  

    Close up of a black bucket filled with red coffee cherries

    There are the things we did to make the season go around. Tile fermentation tanks. Check. Replace McKinnon. Check. Build new drying beds. Check. Send Jimmy in for quality control. Check. Bring Joy over to help collect farmer stories. Check. Send Raphael in to build relationships. Check. But the real privilege of partnership was having lunch at Grandma Margaret’s house. Margaret is Haron’s wife and by all accounts, especially by our eleven-year-old Neo’s, she makes the best chapati and mandazi in the land. Lunch at her house is a privilege. Leave your shoes at the door and be prepared to be treated like family and a treasured guest all at once.  

    Group of women standing and talking together

    The larger vision for Long Miles Kenya is not only to work with Haron and his family, but also to have a farm in Western Kenya. This farm has been a dream for many years and we’ve already met many challenges while trying to bring it to fruition. Anxiety. Sleeplessness. Sometimes they won’t leave us even though we’ve left Africa. One thing we learned while beginning Long Miles in Burundi is that most things in life worth doing are held in paradox. Pain and gratitude cycling in tandem. Hardship and joy weaving together. You can watch some of Ben’s musings in his search for land for the farm in Kenya here on our Instagram feed.  

    Clothes hung out to dry on a line against a candy-striped wall

    Small steps. This is how change happens. Can change be found in the dramatic upheaval or the unexpected right turn? Absolutely. But, more often than not, it is nuanced and shadowed. Change is the vein pulsing and moving through a larger thing. It is waking up and realizing that your newborn baby boy can legally drive a car. It is pushing the flywheel for what seems like a lifetime before it finally ticks over and dreams become reality. Days. They don’t seem like much, especially in a pandemic where they bleed like a monochromatic watercolor into one. The sun rises, then it sets. Sometimes we crave the sunset. The darkness. The doneness. Days aren’t always the focus of our bigger life “goals” but they are the smallness that keeps us all alive. We need the smallness. Small steps. Small daily choices that build a lifetime. Days are the little “yeses” to the future that we barely whisper out loud. With them we can collectively feel a wind under our sails. Change is coming. Hope is near. Long Miles Kenya… is near.  

  • A year in the life of Long Miles Coffee in Burundi

    A year in the life of Long Miles Coffee in Burundi

    We’re often asked the question, “What does a ‘typical day’ in the life of Long Miles Coffee look like?”

    The truth? It depends on when you ask. Although coffee harvest only happens once a year in Burundi and usually lasts around three months (sometimes more), growing and producing coffee is a year-round effort. On any given day of the week, the Long Miles team could be spread out between the country’s capital, or upcountry at our washing stations where coffee is grown. For the thousands of smallholder coffee farmers that we work with, a “typical day” is completely different from our own. The time that coffee farmers in Burundi spend on farming activities is divided between a multitude of crops, not just focused on coffee.

    Here’s a glimpse at what an “average” year in the life of Long Miles Coffee in Burundi looks like: 

    JANUARY-FEBRUARY 

    It’s the beginning of the year. The country is experiencing “impeshi”, which translated from Kirundi  (the local language spoken in Burundi) means “small dry season”. Depending on the area and soil structure, farmers are planting a variety of crops in this season, especially beans, potatoes, and peas. If coffee farmers have access to insecticides, they will be spraying them on their coffee trees as well as weeding their coffee farms. Some will even start pruning their coffee trees. 

    January is usually the time that our head of Production and Quality Control, Seth Nduwayo, leads our annual Coffee Quality and Production Training. It’s also the time when we start preparing the annual calendar for our social and environmental impact projects: PIP (Integrated Farm Plan), Farmer Field School, Trees For Kibira, and Womxn and Youth Empowerment Programs.

    Joy Mavugo from the Story team connecting with a partner coffee farmer.

    The Story team, lead by Joy Mavugo, is out in the coffee hills, connecting with coffee farmers to hear their thoughts in the weeks that prelude coffee harvest. Most importantly, this is when we start applying for our annual production license- something that coffee producers in Burundi must do at the start of each year. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to open our washing stations for cherry collection or begin processing the first coffees of the season. 

    Every week, the Long Miles Coffee Scouts are visiting each of the hills that we collect coffee from, checking on the health of our own coffee farms, meeting with Farmer Field School team members and teaching best agricultural practices, making note of the visible effects of climate change in the coffee hills, keeping a record of the number of antestia caught, distributing and planting seedlings from our Trees For Kibira nurseries. To diversify our coffee farms, our team at Heza Washing Station is maintaining the handbuilt cowsheds and laying down new fodder for our two mama cows and their calves. 

    Together with our washing station managers and production teams, the Coffee Scout leaders are also holding meetings with community development officers and partner coffee farmers, hearing from them if there were any challenges or issues during the previous coffee harvest and discussing ways to resolve this before the upcoming coffee harvest. 

    Family of Burundian coffee farmers picking coffee cherries
    Close-up of a person's hands picking ripe coffee cherries

    MARCH-JUNE 

    The country is experiencing its biggest rainy season of the year. The coffee cherries are red, ripening, and ready to be picked. The antestia bug (the insect thought to be  linked to the Potato Taste Defect) thrives during this time because the cherries are soft and sweet, making it easier for the bug to bore holes into the cherry skins. Farmers are scouting for these bugs in their coffee trees and if they find them, are removing them by hand.

    The end of March usually marks the opening of coffee harvest in Burundi, and coffee farmers will spend most of their days hand-picking cherries then walking to deliver them to the nearest washing station or collection point. Generally, other crops aren’t planted in this season because coffee is on everyone’s mind. 

    Burundian coffee farmer bicycling coffee cherries to a coffee washing station

    April and May roll around, and coffee harvest is in full swing. It’s one of the busiest times of year for our team. The Coffee Scouts spend their days between guiding coffee farmers through selective cherry picking on their farms and at the washing stations or collection points, assisting with farmer reception and cherry quality control. Our team also works alongside our partner coffee farmers, harvesting cherries from the Long Miles Coffee Farms. Each delivery of cherry is processed, either as a fully washed, natural, or honey-processed coffees, and left to dry on raised drying tables. 

    An omelette and V60 pour-over coffee maker
    People around a wooden table cupping coffees

    The Story team spends these weeks following our team’s activities, connecting with coffee farmers on their farms, and documenting their harvest, or at the washing stations following the production of coffee.

    This is usually the time that we get to welcome our roasting partners in Burundi to experience a slice of coffee harvest, see coffee in production, connect with our team and partner coffee farmers, and join us around the cupping table to taste a selection of fresh crop coffees. 

    JULY-AUGUST

    The start of July usually signals that coffee harvest is coming to a close in Burundi. Most of the parchment coffee is either off the tables or about to come off. Our washing stations no longer receive coffee cherries, and our team’s focus shifts to the dry mill. 

    Our Production and Quality team at the dry mill is focused on constructing micro-lots and preparing coffees for export. They are regularly sending samples to our Long Miles Coffee lab, where hundreds of cups of coffee are cupped, analysed, and scored by our team before being sent as samples to our roasting partners the world over. This work starts in July and continues until the end of the year. 

    A person holding an envelope of money

    The country-wide coffee pruning campaign officially opens, and the Coffee Scouts are helping coffee farmers to identify which coffee trees should be pruned or stumped. All around farm maintenance is happening at the same time: weeding, applying organic fertilizers, and mulching the ground to keep it moist during the upcoming dry season. 

    At the helm of our Social and Environmental Impact Leader, Epa Ndikumana, the Coffee Scouts are also collecting samples of soil for testing, and analysing the benefits of intercropping banana trees with coffee on our coffee farms. Our Story team is there to capture it all: the dry mill, the post-harvest activities, and most importantly, farmer payments. 

    Farmer Payday is the one day of the year when all of the coffee farming communities that we work with receive payment for the coffee cherries that they delivered to us during harvest season. The money that most farmers earn from growing coffee is spent on their children’s school tuition and supplies, home repairs, and investing in other income-earning projects. In the weeks leading up to payday, our team works hard behind the scenes, counting money and preparing each farmer’s payment. Hill by hill, each farmer that we work with is paid for every kilogram of coffee cherry that they delivered to a Long Miles Washing Station or collection point. 

    SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER

    The country is experiencing “agatas”, which translated from Kirundi means “small rainy season”. These are the months that are considered the main planting season in Burundi. Whatever farmers choose to grow is planted at this time. 

    The mature coffee trees start to flower- depending on the amount of rainfall in the country- and the coffee cherries are in the early stages of developing. This is the time for coffee farmers to be maintaining their coffee nurseries, planting new coffee trees, and weeding their plantations. Those who have access to lime and fertilizer will start applying it on their coffee farms. 

    Pile of jute coffee bags

    The coffees at the dry mill continue to be milled, bagged, and processed before being loaded onto trucks and headed to our roasting partners across the world.  

    Meanwhile, the Coffee Scouts are evaluating the growth and survival rate of the Trees For Kibira seedlings in the nurseries. As the year comes to a close, a bonus payment is made to the coffee farmers who delivered high quality cherries throughout the season. 

    There’s no short way of answering the question, “What does a ‘typical day’ look like for you?” No matter the year, there’s no small amount of words to share with you what producing coffee in Burundi looks like for our team. As we write this, the coffee cherries have already started to ripen, rain has fallen, and our team has started preparing for the upcoming harvest season. We can’t wait to share what this year holds with you!

  • Before + Now

    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.

    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.

  • Long Miles Coffee Podcast: Brazilian Coffee with Felipe Croce

    Long Miles Coffee Podcast: Brazilian Coffee with Felipe Croce

    Image from Felipe Croce. Covert art by Abby Fabre.

    EPISODE THREE

    Felipe Croce (Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza) grew up on his family’s coffee farm in Brazil. We talk to Felipe about the complexities of organic coffee farming, the misconceptions of Brazilian coffee, how shifting to organic practices hasn’t paid off for Brazilian coffee farmers yet, and what he’s doing to bring the farm to roasting partners in the face of the global pandemic.

    SHOW NOTES

    Ben makes mention of three specialty coffee roasters: Oddly CorrectBlue Bottle and Passenger Coffee.

    Read more about the Croce family’s history with coffee and Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza here.  

    This is the reference Ben made about organic farms being “messy”.

    Felipe makes mention of the late Erna Knutsen, coffee’s feminist pioneer. Read more about Erna here

    Felipe mentions three specialty coffee roasters: Stumptown, Intelligentsia and Counter Culture Coffee.

    Visit VIF Wine bar in Seattle.

    SCAE is the Specialty Coffee Association Expo

    Here’s a helpful resource on what terroir is and how it relates to your cup of coffee.

    Here are a few places where you can find a bag of FAF Brazil coffees in North America: 

    Linea Caffe – West Coast

    Blue Bottle – West Coast

    1000 Faces Coffee – Southeast

    City of Saints – East Coast

    Want to get in contact with Felipe? 

    Visit FAF’s website  

    Follow @fafcoffees and @felipecroce on Instagram 

    Send an email to felipecroce@fafcoffees.com 

    SHOW CREDITS

    Hosts: Ben Carlson and Abby Fabre

    Producer: Tommy Fabre

    Executive Producer: Robyn-Leigh van Laren

    Cover art: Abby Fabre

    Imagery: Felipe Croce

  • HARVEST UPDATE

    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 Long Miles Story team.

     July is a significant month for the farming communities in Burundi. It’s usually the month that marks the end of harvest season- not just for coffee, but for other subsistence crops too. Some farmers call July ‘the month of resting’, as their focus shifts from coffee towards preparing their land to plant other subsistence crops in time for the next rainy season (expected in September). Other farmers call it ‘one of the busiest times of the year’ as their focus stays on coffee. The short dry season in July means that their soil needs to be protected from the East African sun with mulch and weeding. It’s also the time to start thinking about which coffee trees need to be pruned. 

    On Wednesday, 1st July 2020 the country also celebrated its fifty-eighth Independence Anniversary from Belgian rule. We asked some coffee farmers what their thoughts were on the country’s anniversary. 

    “Independence Day is really important to me. I celebrated [the independence anniversary] with my children in Kayanza center. That day, I celebrated freedom; there was no freedom before our independence. I was still a little boy, but I remember many things from that time. During the colonization period, people were beaten and forced to do certain activities. But I’m grateful for the good things that the colonizers brought into Burundi. My father was once beaten for cultivating coffee, but now my family stands on coffee. Even my own children are now coffee farmers, and they’re not doing it by force. It’s because of the benefits they saw in growing coffee. The colonizers also taught us to know God.” Pascal Murengerantwari is a seventy-year old coffee farmer from Mikuba hill. He has ten coffee plantations with 1,000 coffee trees. 

    “I think that 1st July is special for all Burundians, especially for those who were alive during the colonization period. I learnt about it in school. Burundians were forced to do labor like building roads, bridges, and other national works. They were also physically punished. Whenever I talk with old people who were alive at the time, they say that it was very hard, but there are many benefits for myself and other Burundians because of it. I also learnt that the colonizers taught Burundians about God. They built hospitals and taught people about health; built schools and taught people how to read and to write. I’m celebrating the country’s freedom and the good things that came from colonization.” Bonaventure Niyibigira is a twenty-two year old coffee farmer from Munyinya hill. He has two coffee plantations with 200 coffee trees.

    From the Field

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

    Last time, I shared our plans about parchment transfer from the washing stations to the dry mill. This has begun and is still going on. So far, all the trucks we loaded reached the mill successfully. No breaking down during the journey, no delays that result in waiting to offload the following day. Moreover, on July 20th, we were allowed to start milling.

    However, some of the challenges I mentioned in the previous newsletter have already prevailed. In fact, we waited longer than expected to be allowed to mill and the handpicking space is almost full. We plan to start handpicking tomorrow, July 22nd, but the space will be so limited that we will only employ around seventy people while before we could hire three hundred. However, seventy is ok as we will be able to manage them well (which is good for quality) and also we can guarantee that there is enough space between each other in a way that respects the social distancing, in this period of COVID-19.

    From the Lab

    written by David Stallings, Roaster Relations for Long Miles Coffee

    For the past seven weeks I have spent the better part of every day engaged in either analyzing green coffee samples (taking humidity and water activity readings), roasting samples, cupping samples, or logging data associated with one of these activities. I then use this data to construct lots of coffee that are roughly twenty bags in size.

    In order to construct the roughly twenty bag lots I first consider the hill from which the coffee was delivered. All of our micro-lots are traceable down to a specific hill (a hill, or colline, being a distinct geopolitical unit in Burundi) from which the coffee came. After that I consider the water activity of the day lots. All of the micro-lots we produce have a water activity reading between 0.45 and 0.55aw. If the water activity is above this we will re-dry the coffee, if it is below this it will not be sold as micro-lot quality coffee. For lot construction purposes this year I have chosen to blend coffees together based on where in this range they fall. Coffees with a water activity reading between 0.45-0.49aw are blended together while coffees with a reading between 0.50-0.55aw are blended together. Finally, the flavor profile of the coffees are considered in blending.

    As Seth mentioned above, I am thrilled to note that milling of our lots has begun. Once I receive the finished, milled and handpicked samples from our first run through the mill, our partners can expect samples to begin arriving in the post! We will be milling the remainder of July, all through August, and even into September. As such, I expect to be sending samples from mid-August through October. If you have not been in touch with me to discuss your 2020 harvest needs, please do so! If you have been, know that I will be in touch soon with updates on samples coming your way!

    Links worth checking out: 

  • Long Miles Coffee Podcast: Colombian Coffee with Tyler Youngblood

    Long Miles Coffee Podcast: Colombian Coffee with Tyler Youngblood

    Image from Tyler Youngblood. Cover art by Abby Fabre.

    EPISODE TWO

    Tyler Youngblood (Azahar Coffee Company) co-founded an export company and café while on a road trip with friends through South America in 2010. Ben and Abby talk to Tyler about his role in developing the Colombian specialty coffee sector, co-creating “A Sustainable Coffee Buyer’s Guide” and whether it’s affordable to pay a dynamic price for coffee. 

    SHOW NOTES

    Sprudge is a coffee publication and global hub of coffee culture and original journalism.

    Here are the New York Times, Washington Post and Bloomberg articles featuring Azahar coffee.

    Ben, Abby and Tyler were drinking Madcap Coffee in this episode.

    “A Sustainable Coffee Buyer’s Guide” is currently a pilot version and at the workshop stage. It’s not available for purchase (yet).  

    Watch a recording of Tyler’s presentation at SCA in Brooklyn (2018) here and here.   

    Find out more about the “Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide”, a project lead by Peter W. Roberts and Chad Trewick here.   

    Tyler makes mention of FOB Pricing and Farm Gate Pricing. Here’s a helpful resource that helps to unpack these terms. 

    If you’re in Colombia, you can pick up a bag of coffee from Azahar Café or one of their roasting partners. You can also shop on Azahar’s website.

    Here are a few places where you can find a bag of Azahar coffee in North America: 

    Madcap – Midwest

    Saint Frank  – West Coast

    Sightglass – West Coast

    Stumptown – Northwest

    Intelligentsia – Midwest

    Metric – Midwest

    Coffea Roasterie – Midwest

    Heart – Northwest

    Want to get in contact with Tyler?  

    Visit the Azahar website.  

    Reach out to @tyler_youngblood directly or @azaharcoffee on Instagram to talk to one of their relationship managers.

    SHOW CREDITS

    Hosts: Ben Carlson and Abby Fabre

    Producer: Tommy Fabre

    Executive Producer: Robyn-Leigh van Laren

    Cover art: Abby Fabre

    Imagery: Tyler Youngblood

  • Long Miles Coffee Podcast: Honduran Coffee with Benjamin Paz

    Long Miles Coffee Podcast: Honduran Coffee with Benjamin Paz

    Image taken by David Stallings. Cover art by Abby Fabre.

    EPISODE ONE

    Benjamin Paz (Beneficio San Vicente) is a coffee farmer, producer, roaster and exporter in Santa Barbara, Honduras. Benjamin talks to Ben and Abby about what producing coffee during a global pandemic looks like, the challenges facing Honduran coffee farmers and answers the question: is producing commercial coffee more sustainable than specialty coffee?

    Show Notes

    7 Corners Coffee: specialty coffee shop in the heart of Minneapolis.

    USAID Reform of the Coffee Sector in Burundi

    Saint Frank Coffee: specialty coffee shop in San Francisco, California. Saint Frank was founded by Kevin Bohlin (who is also mentioned in this episode).

    A few places Benjamin mentioned where you find San Vicente coffee in North America:

    Coava– North West

    Bolt Coffee– East Coast

    Verve– West Coast

    Spyhouse Coffee Roasters– Midwest

    Want to get in contact with Benjamin?  

    Reach out to @benjaminpaz directly on Instagram.

    Show Credits

    Hosts: Ben Carlson and Abby Fabre

    Producer: Tommy Fabre

    Executive Producer: Robyn-Leigh van Laren

    Cover art: Abby Fabre

    Imagery: David Stallings

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