Gervais is a seventy-nine year old coffee farmer from the small, coffee-producing nation of Burundi, East Africa. He started farming coffee in 1960, when Burundi was just two years shy of gaining its independence from Belgian rule. As the oldest person in his community, he has dubbed himself as the “grandfather of Gaharo hill”; the area where he lives and grows his coffee. That, and the fact that his grandchildren seem to follow him wherever he goes.
“My house is close to the road. Children in the community often pass by my home to visit. I am also the oldest person in my community. I am like the grandfather of Gaharo hill.”
Growing up, his father- a traditional beekeeper- taught him how to build a beehive from the wood of the umwungo tree(more commonly known as polyscias fulva, an evergreen indigenous to Burundi). Even though he never became a beekeeper himself, Gervais still grows these trees to sell the wood.
If you ask him, Gervais will tell you that his coffee farm is a source of pride and joy. He used to have just under 300 Heirloom Bourbon coffee trees planted on the same plot of land that his house stands on, but as he’s gotten older, he’s started giving them away to his children. As an avid member of Farmer Field School, Gervais’ coffee farm is a model that other farmers in the community can visit to learn best farming practices from him.
“The governor of Muramvya1 once visited my plantation during a local spraying campaign because it is so nice.”
Over the years, he has planted banana palms, bamboo, and avocado trees alongside his coffee to diversify his farm and protect the soil. At one point, he even started a red wiggler worm farm. More recently, Gervais has started producing organic fertilizer for his coffee trees by composting banana stalks and leaves with ash leftover from cooking.
When we asked Gervais what he’ll do with the photos he took, he replied,
“I am going to show my children the photos I took. I want them to remember that I worked in coffee.”
“This is my grandchild. He always comes with me to my plantation. He follows me, wherever I go. He knows that coffee is important. He knows that if we have coffee, we have rice.”
“I was pruning my trees. I always wear my suit. When I was young, I had many suits. Now, I only have this one.”
“My daughter. She was watering the vegetables outside our house.”
“The women who were sorting coffee at the washing station. I love this washing station. It’s encouraging to see women working in coffee, looking after plantations and earning money.”
Footnotes
Muramvya is a province in the central part of the country, and also Gervais’ home province.
“Before + Now” is dedicated to bringing the voices of marginalized coffee farmers into the field of vision of everyday coffee consumers. It includes a series of photographs made by coffee farmers in Burundi, East Africa as well as a large-format portrait of each farmer. This series makes it possible not only to see life in East Africa and the coffee process; but also to connect clearly with the dreams, fears, and hopes of coffee farmers. Read more about “Before + Now” here.
Fermentation is an incredibly complex process. The purpose of this blog post is not to present an exhaustive scientific perspective on coffee fermentation. We are coffee producers. We are not researchers, nor do we have a background in microbiology. The purpose of this blog post is to address some basic aspects of fermentation, as they pertain to coffee processing. If you are looking for an exhaustive scientific approach, there are people doing great work and research surrounding fermentation and coffee processing. One individual, in particular, that we would recommend checking out is Lucia Solis.
As an industry, we use the term “processing” to refer to the method by which coffee seeds are removed from the fruit in which they developed, in order to prepare them for export. Coffee seeds are, of course, what are colloquially referred to as coffee “beans”. However, they are not beans in any true botanical sense. That is to say, it’s the seeds which we roast, grind, and brew into the decoction known as coffee. In order to separate the seeds from the fruit, and do so in such a way that the seeds are stable and will not encourage microbial growth (bacteria, mold, etc), the seeds must be dried to a certain degree. As such, these are the two primary functions of processing: to dry the coffee to a stable level and to remove the seeds from the fruit.
Washed Processed coffees on drying tables at the Long Miles Coffee Washing Station
There are two broad processing categories under which these goals can be attained (and there are many sub-categories under these broad classifications which we’ll write about another time.) Natural, or Dry Processed, coffees are ones in which the seeds are allowed to dry inside the coffee fruit itself. Not long ago we talked about Naturally Processed coffees on Instagram – you can find that here.
Natural Processing is the original coffee processing method and is well suited to regions with a very dry harvest period. Before export, the dried fruit is broken open (mechanically) and the loosened seeds are sorted out from this. While ostensibly quite simple, producing Naturally Processed coffees in a way that is free from taste defects can be very challenging. This is especially true for producing countries or regions which have a very humid or rainy harvest period. In our experience, Burundi is particularly challenging in this regard. This is because the potential to produce top-quality Naturals is quite high. That said, some harvest seasons can be unpredictably wet, a problem increasingly exacerbated by a shifting climate.
Pulped coffee undergoing the Washed Process
These challenges surrounding drying the coffee without taste defects led to the development of the Wet or Washed Processing method long ago. In the Wet Processed method, the outer skin of the coffee fruit, along with some mucilage, is removed. At this stage, the coffee is fermented in order to remove the remaining mucilage, along with the stubborn pectic layer that surrounds the seeds. As such, when we talk about coffee fermentation, we are referring to a step in the Washed Processing method. After fermentation, these layers are easily washed off, allowing the coffee seeds to be dried. Since the vast majority of the available glucose and fructose is removed through this process, it is much easier to dry the coffee without encountering unwanted microbial activity that may lower the quality of the final product.
Up until fairly recently, this was viewed as the entire scope and purpose of fermentation: to clean the coffee, removing the seeds from the mucilage and pectin inside the coffee fruit. The process was not considered (by most) to impart any positive or even identifying flavors into the final product. In fact, many spoke of the goal of washed coffee in a similar way that some roasters speak of lightly roasting coffee: the process was one in which the goal was simply to add no negative flavors and to let the coffee “speak for itself,” as it were. In fact, the process of fermentation was considered so strictly functional and oblique as it pertains to coffee flavor, that machines were developed to mechanically remove the mucilage from the coffee, without the fermentation step. Carlos H. J. Brando writes in Wintgen’s seminal 2004 book, Coffee: Growing, Processing, Sustainable Production1, that, “although a lot of research work has gone into demonstrating that fermentation and mechanical removal of mucilage lead to the same quality results, some experts are still skeptical.” Elsewhere in Wintgen’s tome is the mechanical removal of mucilage as being able to produce the same quality coffee as traditionally fermented coffee, spoken of as fact.
While it is true that coffee seeds themselves do not actually undergo fermentation (only the mucilaginous material surrounding the seed), there has been a growing movement from researchers indicating that yes, fermentation does affect the flavor of the finished coffee. This has been noted anecdotally by some coffee professionals who have experienced a shift in coffee quality and complexity in production systems that previously employed traditional fermentation and have moved towards mechanical washing that does not require the coffee to be fermented. It has also been examined by individuals such as the aforementioned Lucia Solis.
Members of the Long Miles Coffee team stand alongside a soaking tank with fermenting coffee
Once coffee is pulped and exposed to microbes, these yeasts, bacteria, and fungi eat the glucose and fructose, along with some naturally occurring organic acids, found in the coffee fruit. During this process, fermentation by-products are created. These bi-products can penetrate the coffee seeds, affecting the final cup quality and qualities. Traditionally, the microbes present are naturally occurring and come from the environment – being found in the air, within the fermentation tanks, and also on the coffee fruit itself. In recent years, yeasts have been developed with a specific aim of modulating a coffee’s flavor profile. This is something we experimented with back in 2018 and may explore more in the future.
Even without the addition of selected yeasts, a number of factors can influence fermentation. Chief among these are temperature and the presence (or lack) of water. Warmer environments will speed up the fermentation process whereas cooler environments will draw out the process. It is for this reason that fermentation as a step in processing can never be based purely on a set amount of time. Our own experience fermenting coffee in Burundi these past eight years confirms this. To achieve a fermentation in which all the mucilaginous material has been fermented away can, for example, take eight hours in a warm climate, or thirty-six plus hours in a cooler climate for the exact same lot of coffee. It is true that over time one is able to have a target fermentation time based on the tank size, average temperature, etc. That is to say, with experience specific to any given washing station, one is eventually able to assume target fermentation times. But to enter into a new or unknown system and design a fermentation protocol based on time, rather than observing the process and progress of the fermentation as it is happening, would be putting the cart before the horse.
If the fermentation takes place underwater, the temperature of the fermenting mass is typically cooler than it would be without adding water. As such, this generally slows fermentation down. There is, however, another factor that is more important in influencing the final cup qualities. Coffee that is being fermented underwater is more conducive to bacterial proliferation. Coffee that is fermented dry is more conducive to yeast fermentation (though acetic acid bacteria is present in both circumstances). In our experience, fermentation which happens underwater also has the added benefit of being more homogenous. We can only assume this is because the fermentation bi-products which influence the cup quality are more evenly distributed via the water.
Naturally Processed coffee on drying tables
Though we have discussed fermentation as a step in the Wet or Washed Processing method, it is important to note that fermentation also technically happens in Naturally Processed coffees. Within the skin of the coffee fruit itself, mucilage ferments once the coffee has been removed from the shrub on which it grew. The fermentation process within a Naturally Processed coffee is very likely bacterial as bacteria is significantly smaller than yeasts and, thus, more likely to make its way inside the fruit. This highlights why it is so critical for the initial drying of Naturally Processed coffees to happen quickly. If the coffee is allowed to ferment for too long, the acetic acid bacteria will be able to negatively impact the final cup quality by producing strong acetic acid flavors (think apple cider vinegar). Some acetic acid is always present in coffee and this is a good thing as it can lend a fruited complexity to the final product. But, too much acetic acid leads to off, rotten, or “over fermented” flavors that are eschewed by most specialty coffee professionals and consumers alike.
References
1 Wintgen, J.N. 2012, Coffee: Growing, Processing, Sustainable Production: A Guidebook for Growers, Processors, Traders and Researchers, Second, Revised Edition, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany.
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.
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.
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!
written by Kristy Carlson, co-founder and Story Director of Long Miles Coffee.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There are women farming coffee on Gikungere hill who are tearing down the walls that were once built up around them.
“GROWING UP, WE WERE TOLD THAT EVERY BOY MUST ONE DAY HAVE A PIECE OF LAND TO PLANT COFFEE FOR HIS FUTURE FAMILY. BUT NOT US GIRLS. WE WOULD SOON BE MARRIED, A PART OF ANOTHER FAMILY.”
It was around noon when we met with the members of Dushigikirigiterwa C’ikawa (translated from Kirundi as “Let’s support the coffee crop”) women’s association. If they hadn’t been spending their afternoon with us, then they would have been out working in their families’ fields.
There are a couple of planting seasons in Burundi, each one aligning with the wet months. February and March mark the start of the country’s second planting season. Every day during these months you’ll find most farmers weeding, mulching, and preparing the soil to plant potatoes, climbing peas, and string beans.
We sat together, sharing thoughts on what it means to be a woman in coffee. We heard women speak their own truths on the value that they bring to their families; the value that they bring to each of their communities. We also talked about the change that they still want to see for women on Gikungere hill.
“If you compare now to the time when we were growing up, so many things have changed for us. Girls are going to school. There are women in government. A woman can now talk freely in meetings where men are present. There are not many separations of tasks. Before, building a house was considered to be ‘a man’s job’. Now, a woman can help her husband to build their family’s house. She can build a fence. We both have hands. We can both do the work. Our skills only improve by working together.”
But in coffee they say they still want to see change.
“WE’RE STILL TREATED LIKE CHILDREN. WE DON’T GET A SAY IN HOW THE MONEY WE EARN FROM COFFEE IS SPENT. WE WANT TO BE RECOGNIZED AS ADULTS; AS COFFEE PRODUCERS.”
Together these incredible women are learning how to support each other and earn money on their own terms, in their own way. They’re currently saving money to buy a piece of land together, with the hope of planting coffee trees. With this money, they say, comes freedom. The ability to contribute towards their families instead of always asking their husbands for money.
“WE USED TO HEAR ABOUT WOMEN’S DAY ON THE RADIO, BUT DIDN’T KNOW WHY WE WERE CELEBRATING IT. NOW, WE’RE CELEBRATING WHAT WOMEN HAVE ACCOMPLISHED.”
Long Miles Coffee Scout Leader, Asterie, picking coffee cherries alongside coffee farmer Marceline.
Sitting among these women was a powerful reminder of what a united community looks like. With the build of Ninga Washing Station happening so close to Gikungere hill, we’re looking forward to having more conversations like this one.
“The change we want to see has to come from each of us. We need to be the example for other hills. We’re going to make change for other women who don’t know that they can.”
Coffee has a storied history in Burundi. It was introduced to the country in the 1920s under Belgian colonial rule. By the early 1930s, all of the farmers in the country were given coffee seedlings and forced to cultivate them with very little resources, support, or compensation to do so.
“I started growing coffee when Burundi was still colonized by the Belgians. During that time growing coffee was very different compared to today. First of all, we were growing coffee by force. Sometimes, we were even beaten. We had no idea of what we were doing. What I remember is that they [Belgian colonizers] used to tell us that we must cultivate coffee, because it will help us in the future.” – Charles Ntandikiye, 83-year-old farmer from Gaharo hill.
“First of all, we were growing coffee by force.”
Shortly after the country’s independence in 1962, the coffee sector was privatized. But by 1972, the government had regained control over it. In 1993, the country’s first set of democractic elections took place and the first president was voted into power. Not long after that, the president was assassinated during an attempted coup d’état. The weeks that followed this were marked by civil war and violence; a rebel campaign encouraging farmers to rip out their coffee trees to destabilize the economy. Many people- both in the city and in the rural parts of the country- fled from their land, seeking safer regions elsewhere in Burundi or crossing the borders into neighboring Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some stayed where they were the entire time.
Those who did eventually return often came back only to find that their land had been displaced or claimed by someone else. Since then, the coffee sector has slowly been returning to its previously privatized state.
“Although I started cultivating coffee by force, I didn’t stop when the Belgians left the country because I realized that what they had told us was true. I have seen the benefits of the coffee crop in my family’s life. When I’ve gotten money from coffee, I’ve paid for school fees, bought clothes, and paid my workers. I will cultivate coffee for the rest of my life.”
“I will cultivate coffee for the rest of my life.”
Charles Ntandikiye, a Burundian coffee farmer, stands amongst his coffee trees.
Not all farmers feel the same way as Charles does. Over the years, we’ve heard many reports from farmers that they’ve since ripped out the coffee trees from their farms and planted beans or potatoes instead. When your introduction to growing coffee was by force and its history stained by political instability and conflict, it’s understandably hard to be passionate about growing it.
But, the Long Miles Coffee Scouts are working to see this change.
The Long Miles Coffee Scouts walking to visit Farmer Field School team members on their farms.
Together with Epa Ndikumana, Social and Environmental Impact Leader at Long Miles, the Coffee Scouts have formed Farmer Field Schools (FFS). Why? To equip any interested farmers with the resources, support, or encouragement that they need to continue growing coffee.
The only criteria for becoming a FFS team member is this: you must be a coffee farmer.
Before starting the first field school, the Coffee Scouts held a meeting on each of the hills that we collect coffee from, asking the coffee farming communities in these regions if they were interested in creating model coffee farms. Those who wanted to join were trained in best agricultural practices and every week since then have been meeting up on a host coffee farm.
Gervais Ngendabanka, a Bukeye Farmer Field School team member, about to prune his coffee trees.
Together, they get stuck in helping with the farming activities that need to be done on the host farm that day: from planting to pruning, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, mulching, scouting for antestia bugs, and restoring soil health. It’s not just the Farmer Field School team members who can take part; anyone from the farming community can join them to observe, ask questions, share ideas, problem-solve, and learn from what’s happening on these host farms.
“I started growing coffee in 1995, but I only started pruning my trees five years ago when I heard about it from the Coffee Scouts. Pruning is very important! It has helped to increase the quantity of cherries my coffee trees produce. I’ve also heard that it increases the quality of the coffee, but I don’t know much about that. Pruning is also hard because you have to wait three years until the trees start producing cherries again.” – Odule Manirakiza, Bukeye FFS team member from Gaharo hill.
A group of Farmer Field School team members from Bukeye.
Since the first field school started back in 2015, the team members have planted coffee trees, nitrogen-fixing plants, green manures, a mix of indigenous plants, and shade trees on their farms. Between 2015-2017, the 287 FFS members spread between Bukeye and Heza Washing Station have doubled their yield of coffee cherry production. The Bukeye FFS team members have seen an increase in yield of coffee cherry from 1kg to 2.1kg per tree, while the Heza FFS team members have seen an increase from 1.5kg to 3kg per tree.
Unfortunately, in 2019, there was a noticeable decline in the FFS team members’ cherry production due to the limited access to fertilizer in the country, and the compounding effect of climate change.
Selectively hand-picking coffee cherries.
During the peak of coffee harvest in Burundi, the FFS team members usually only meet once a week on a host farm to learn how to selectively hand-pick, float, and sort coffee cherries at home before delivering them to the nearest Long Miles Washing Station. In 2020, it was observed that because most of the FFS team members had developed these practices, they didn’t need to spend any unnecessary time at our washing stations re-sorting their cherries for quality.
Up until now, these FFS lots have been processed together with the ~5,500 farming families who deliver to our Long Miles Washing Stations. 2020 was the first year that we’ve collected and processed FFS lots separately to see if the team members’ training and collective efforts have also made a difference in the quality of their coffee on the cupping table.
According to our quality assurance team, at 86.5, the average cup score for FFS lots was almost exactly the same as the average cup score for non-FFS lots. A statistic that stood out as markedly different, however, was the percentage of lots that were not deemed to be micro-lot quality. When our team scores day lots, they need to make a fairly quick assessment of a large number of coffees. For our purposes, the most important quality cutoff point is 86. Coffees that score below 86 points get blended into our “Hills” lots. Coffees that score above 86 get sold as micro-lot quality. Of the non-FFS lots produced in 2020, ~19% did not meet our quality standards to be sold as micro-lot quality coffee. For FFS lots, however, this number was only ~17%. While two percent is small, it is not statistically insignificant as it represents hundreds of pounds of finished green coffee.
However, if we were to focus solely on the improvement of a coffee’s cup score as the main outcome of FFS, we would fall short of the very reason for its existence. Farmer Field School is not just about growing quality Burundi coffee; it’s about the practice of showing up every week. It’s a commitment from farmers to learn from, listen to, and exchange ideas with each other on which farming practices are most effective. It’s about asking questions like, “Have the farming practices we use made a notable impact on the productivity of our coffee trees; on the biodiversity of our coffee farms; on soil health?”
Partially stumped coffee tree.
Although the idea of running a Farmer Field School was initiated by Epa and facilitated by the Coffee Scouts, the farmers involved have taken full ownership of the field school and its activities.
“In 2017, I stumped all of the coffee trees on my farm. Then, in 2020, I harvested double the yield of cherry that I used to get before pruning. The Coffee Scouts have helped me to understand the different ways of taking care of my coffee farms. I remember the first time they told me to stump my coffee trees, because they are old. In my heart I was thinking, “These young people don’t know what they’re saying. Cutting down coffee trees? No way!” But now, I’m encouraging other farmers to do the same thing.” – Firmin Niyibizi, Bukeye FFS team member from Gaharo hill.
In my heart I was thinking, “These young people don’t know what they’re saying. Cutting down coffee trees? No way!”
Farmer Field School has encouraged these communities to continue growing coffee; to not give up hope despite the incredible challenges that they have faced in the past and may continue to face in the future. It has also empowered the communities of coffee farmers we partner with to work together in teams rather than in isolation; to continue to share ideas and use the farming practices that are most effective in improving the productivity of Burundi coffee.
Lately, the thought of sitting down to reflect on the past year has felt like an overwhelming task. What really happened to 2020? It goes without saying that last year was unlike any other. For us, 2020 held challenges that were unique to the season and challenges that aren’t all that ‘unprecedented’ when it comes to producing coffee.
The year started off much like any other. Our team worked alongside our neighboring coffee farming communities, preparing coffee farms for the opening of the coffee season and expectant for a harvest better than the previous one. Everything seemed to be on track until the Burundian national coffee board announced a sudden change in regulations.
In order to qualify for an annual production licence, coffee producers were required to have 75% of their forecasted crop in the bank [to be held in trust to pay farmers]. Coming off the backend of a harvest where 25% of the country’s normal export was produced, having these funds in advance was unreasonable for most producers- ourselves included. If any coffee producers were unable to comply with the new regulations, they would lose their washing station(s) along with the permission to produce coffee ever again.
Scrambling to comply in time while the threat of a derailed harvest hung in the air made for a hard couple of months, but thankfully we were able to find a way. Then came the news of how rapidly the virus was spreading across the globe. Neighboring East African countries quickly plunged into strict lockdowns and the Burundi airport shut down. It was the first time in a long time that we had to ask visitors not to travel to Burundi for coffee harvest.
All things considered, there was still a lot of beauty and joy found in harvest. The coffee trees continued to fruit and ripen. With hand-washing stations and social distancing in place, we were able to keep the washing stations open for cherry delivery. We celebrated from both near and far with members of our team as they welcomed babies into the world, got married, and as their families grew. We were able to pay coffee farmers on time for their hard work this season! Coffee was exported from Burundi faster than ever before. We continued with the build of Ninga, our third Long Miles Washing Station. Long Miles Kenya was launched, and we saw our first inaugural coffee harvest season in Kirinyaga County, Mount Kenya take place. The seed has been planted and preparations are now underway for the formal launch of Long Miles Uganda.
The year was certainly marked by hardship, loss and a specific set of words constantly strung together. “Unprecedented.” “Uncertainty.” “New normal.” It was also a year marked by bravery and courage; community and connection. Thank you for standing alongside us; for continuing to support Long Miles Coffee.
What lies ahead for us.
In 2017, Ben was sitting with a group of people at The Pulley Collective and an esteemed presenter proclaimed, “There is no sustainable coffee in the world.” Ben was speaking right after him about the hope we see in Burundi coffee, but he approached the stage with the wind out of his sails thinking, “Is it really possible to create a sustainable coffee company?” Ever since that day our company has been combating the harsh realities of coffee’s future with visions of hope. And in 2020, not only was the future of coffee challenged, but the human race’s future as well. It’s been a tough time to keep hoping, but also an impossible time not to grip onto the ship of hope with everything we’ve got.
Here’s how we plan to keep hope alive in 2021:
A coffee farm in Kenya. We hope to start one. And that’s it for now.
This year we started a pilot project in Kenya and we have loved the results. We hope to continue this project and expand it in 2021.
We hope to build a community washing station and a model coffee farm in Uganda.
We hope to fully open our Ninga Washing Station in Burundi. It has taken three years for us to get government approval for this washing station. Farmers who currently spend hours walking to the Bukeye Washing Station will have their livelihoods vastly improved by the presence of the Ninga Washing Station. With a keen focus on coffee quality, we will be using newly designed sealable fermentation silos, one of the newest approaches to coffee fermentation.
We have plans for the expansion of Trees For Kibira, our reforestation and environmental impact program, within both Burundi and Kenya.
An additional founder’s hope is that we live out of a place of thriving, and support our team to do the same. We are not speaking about a place of great excess, but we have often lived in a place of survival only, cutting all expenses and depending on unreliable pre-financing methods to pay farmers and scrape by. While this can be an efficient way to produce coffee, the instability and stress of it doesn’t always honour the people on our team who work so hard to grow, produce, export and sell this product that we all love so much. We hold a deep belief that the only way to make coffee truly sustainable is to honour the value chain and everyone in it.
How do you plan to keep hope alive in 2021? We’d love to hear from you.
written by Ben Carlson, co-founder of Long Miles Coffee.
When Kristy and I started Long Miles Coffee we never dreamed of doing anything beyond producing coffee outside the small village of Bukeye in the high mountains of Burundi. Ten years after our first days in Burundi we find ourselves with three washing stations in Burundi and fresh into the inaugural season of Long Miles Kenya.
Long Miles Kenya is a four year old idea that really started to become a dream and vision for Long Miles Coffee over the past couple years. As COVID gripped the world, I really didn’t see the possibility of our Kenya launch. What I didn’t account for was our Kenyan partner, Haron Wachira, and his capacity and organizational ability to accelerate our vision into reality.
Down the road I’ll share more about how and why we started Long Miles Kenya as well as how we elected to do so in the epicenter of what is Kenya’s finest growing area on the slope of Mount Kenya in central Kenya. What I want to share here is what we have found as we launched into production.
I really wanted to see just how much SL 28 and 34 were still on the slopes of the mountain. On my last exploratory trips, I’ve found Batian and Ruiru being pushed hard on farmers across Kenya. While those Hybrids are quite good, they don’t have the “wow” factor that many in the speciality coffee world have come to love and desire in Kenyan coffee that we find in the SL varieties.
I had our washing station separate two lots from our Kirinyaga farm and also two lots from the neighbors we are leasing land from to produce our micro-lots. These lots will represent our launch into Kenyan coffee and showcase the difference between the Hybrids ands SLs.
Kristy Carlson, co-founder of Long Miles photographing farmers delivering cherries to the coffee factory.
Kristy and I are visiting our different neighbors and hearing their story of life and coffee. What we’ve heard is person after person frustrated with the price they are getting for their coffee. For all the $3-5 cups of Kenyan coffee they hear about being consumed around the world they continue to struggle to even maintain the price they were receiving ten years ago. On top of this, labour prices have increased for harvesting and maintaining the coffee and inputs have drastically increased in cost. “Why keep producing coffee?” many ask. Us working alongside these neighbors to harvest and produce coffee this season gives them some hope and it doesn’t impact their neighbors, they tell me. “How sustainable is coffee in Kenya when only a handful of us receive a better price and help?” And then I request more SL coffee… and I’m taken into the fields and shown the difference between the hybrids and the SL plots. The Hybrids are heavy with cherry and have no noticeable fungus, bugs or issues. The disappearing SL plots are producing half as much and suffering with fungus, insect damage, and CBD (Coffee Berry Disease). If quality in the cup isn’t rewarded to the farmers, I fully understand why we are going to see the end of any SL coffee from Kenya.
The Carlsons visiting neighbors Joyce and Ephantus on their organic SL34 coffee farm. Masks were vigilantly worn during the visit and only removed for this photo.
And yet…there is hope for the SL. If we didn’t see it, I would have to call it a myth or legend. Farmer Joseph has invited us to see his organic SL farm. He’s not one of our neighbors so we are not producing coffee with him, but his story is too unreal not to take a drive to see him. Joseph is harvesting 100kg of cherry per tree (no, this isn’t a typo) and it’s fully organic! We are taking notes and listing the protocols needed to achieve this, and as we wrap up harvest in year one of Long Miles Kenya you can be sure that we are going to be implementing the same strategy as Joseph did to produce his 100kg SL harvest.
I don’t have the space or time to dive into production and quality compromises we have observed in the surrounding factories. What I can say is that with Seth and Raphael coming in from Burundi, and Jimmy arriving for us from Uganda, we are helping implement quality control procedures that we use in Burundi along with an excellent and dedicated management team in place under Haron. Our first taste from the first day’s harvest just happened and all that I can say is that I hope this initial harvest can all taste this good. If it does, my hopes for some of Kenya’s finest coffee will be coming out of Long Miles Kenya washing station.
Cultivating Connection With Coffee Farmers Through Cameras
The coffee farmers we work with have always been central to who we are, but until 2017 their stories were always filtered and shared by me- an outsider looking in. We began Long Miles thinking we knew what farmers needed, but could we really know if we never experienced life through their eyes? In the first years of Long Miles we were so absorbed in the challenges of building a business in Burundi that we didn’t slow down enough to consider this.
Milda conducting the first round of Before + Now in 2017
Milda with Before + Now participant Dorothy
In early 2017 a PhD candidate named Milda Rosenberg changed that. She came from Norway to intern with us in Burundi and she brought with her some cameras. Her goal was to give cameras to coffee farmers so that she could learn more about what they valued and their challenges. I had never heard of this approach and was really intrigued. In her months with us, we overwhelmed Milda with all sorts of young start up company needs, “Fire up our Instagram account!” “Help with farmer pay-day!” “Take the truck and wait in line for fuel!” “Photograph harvest!” Milda ended up handing out the cameras to farmers when she had just a few weeks remaining in Burundi. Despite the truncated time table, the results of her project opened our eyes to a new way of connecting and thinking. After Milda left, I was determined to carry on the project and in 2018 we re-launched it.
Once we began we got glimpses into farmers’ everyday lives, which felt like sacred ground. It was such an honor to meet newborn babies, attend funerals, and learn to love their sons and daughters through their photographs. Our team sat for hours on small wooden village benches hearing important stories and digesting meaningful photographs. Images of devastating rains wiping away valuable coffee trees were sandwiched between pictures of smiling children and church services- a testament to the complexity of life. We learned new things about how farmers approach the painstaking and time consuming acts of caring for, harvesting, and transporting coffee.
Forty farmers, twenty from Bukeye and twenty from Heza, participated in Before + Now. This is such a small amount of what they photographed and had to say- but it’s a start in sharing the beauty of their lives and perspectives.
