Tag: long miles coffee project

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.

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.”

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.”

June 3, 2020
BURUNDIANS AND COFFEE
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.”
- A wood-fire takes less time than coal to heat up a traditional Batwa pot
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- "It smells like grass." Philippe's notes on the green coffee.
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- Roasting Coffee
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- Freshly roasted coffee left to cool on a banana leaf
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- "The smell has changed!" Philippe after smelling the roasted and ground coffee.
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- Philippe's hand-ground coffee about to brew
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- Sabine drinking coffee for the first time
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- Philippe and Sabine's son tasting his first cup of coffee
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- Sabine drinking coffee for the first time
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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.
March 13, 2020
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

February 28, 2020
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.

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.

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

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.

February 21, 2020
Too Much Rain

“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.

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

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.

February 13, 2020
Summer Coffee Camp

This week our annual Coffee Summer Camp came to an end. Our agronomist, Ephapras, was the visionary behind the camp. When he realized that children were not motivated to learn about coffee, he decided to come up with an innovative way to spark their interest. Back in 2015, he came up with the idea of running a coffee summer camp that could take place during school holidays. Since then, together with the help of our Coffee Scouts, he has been able to motivate hundreds of children to learn about coffee and recognize its value.

The theme for this year’s camp was “Ikawa wacu, kazoza kacu” which means “Our coffee, our future”. One of the major camp activities this year included the Scouts teaching about the Antestia bug and its link to the potato defect. To end off the camp, they took part in a month long Antestia-catching competition. Their response to the competition was incredible and by the end of it they had captured 248 046 bugs!

The camp ended just before the new school year began, so the prizes awarded to our Antestia-fighters included school uniforms, notebooks and stationery sets to encourage them with their future at school. Parents in the community were overjoyed that their children took part in the summer camp, because not only did it keep them occupied during the school holidays but it also empowered them with skills and opportunities. Leaders in the community were also proud that so many children have now taken a new interest in coffee.

We’ve haven’t had 790 children participate in a camp like this before, never mind catch 248 046 bugs. We’re curious to know if this impacts the ecosystem in any way. If anyone has any information on this, we would love to hear about it!

We couldn’t be prouder of all the children who participated in this year’s camp. We are also incredibly grateful to our team who are working extra hard to engage with and empower farmers. If this summer camp has taught us anything, it’s that there is great hope for the future of coffee in Burundi.

Coffee. People. Potential.

September 15, 2017
Our Struggle For Hope

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

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

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

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

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

fixing the LMCP vehicle near Heza washing station

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

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

I leave you with more Brene Brown goodness:

“Numb the dark and you numb the light.”

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

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

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

April 24, 2014
Coffee Cupping 101 With Long Miles Coffee Project

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

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

What is so great about coffee cupping?

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

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

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

What is “breaking the crust?”

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

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

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

What keeps you motivated to cup?

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

The End.

All images shot with an iPhone4, edited with VSCO .

June 25, 2013
Our Family Rule On Swimming With Hippos: Just Don’t

We don’t often find ourselves on sailboats out on Lake Tanganyika, but one sunny weekend day (months ago) we did. Back then the washing station wasn’t even fully built. It feels like… a lifetime ago. If you can ignore the threat of hippos and crocs, the Burundi shores of Lake Tanganyika are a great place to play. Our family rule on swimming in the croc and hippo occupied lake? “You only swim if there’s, like, 110% visibility and if you see a hippo… run!” I have no idea if this is sound advice, but I did google “what to do when you encounter a hippo” once and I seem to remember running being on the top of the list of escape strategies. Running… and possibly tree climbing. So far so good, as no hippos have roamed our way.

These images aren’t from months ago just because I am a very behind blogger (which I am) but also because film and I have a special relationship. I’m way out here in this country with an “interesting” mail system… and by “interesting” I mean totally unreliable. It is often months before I send my film to the lab because I wait for unsuspecting friends to visit and then ask them to carry it half way around the world in their handbags for me. Who doesn’t love carrying small strange looking objects in their carry ons for friends? Probably everybody, but so far everyone has been pretty kind about it… maybe it’s the pathetic “pretty please” look on my face as I beg them not to put the film in their checked luggage (I don’t trust it, I just don’t!).

Anyway, I’ve grown to appreciate the long pause between shooting and seeing. It’s kind of like Christmas when film scans finally do arrive in my inbox. The long pause also helps me to see my images less as “my work” as a “photographer” and more as an emblem of our family history. I find myself being less critical about focus and light and “blah blah blah” and more appreciative that I paused at all to capture our moments and our places.

……

Hasselblad 501C, Fuji 400, Indie Film Lab

June 17, 2013

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