This month, we are focussing on the work of our dear friends from the Long Miles Coffee Project, this time in Burundi.
After meeting again in Kenya earlier this month, we feel a refreshed appreciation of their hard work, and a renewed drive to share their passion and dedication with all of you. Long Miles was established in Burundi in 2013 by Ben and Kristy Carlson, and originally sought to increase the quality and stability of life for several thousand smallholder farmers in the Kayanza region of Burundi.
Since then, they have expanded their work into Kenya, in the west near Mount Elgon, and into Uganda, in the remote Rwenzori mountains.
For now though, the focus is on their original project in Burundi, and specifically the Gitwe hill, where we have purchased lots several times in the past. As many long term subscribers will remember, producing and exporting coffee in Burundi is never easy, and the last few years have been particularly difficult. Due to the cyclic nature of the harvest here, this year has seen a jump in production, volumes are significantly higher than last year, but not quite as large as the bumper harvest of 2022. Quality has remained at an excellent level, thanks to the Long Miles team’s tireless work at each of the stations.
This month we are focussing on the work of the Long Miles Coffee Project in Burundi, with two coffees from their Bumba hill and Gitwe hill stations.
Bumba Hill
This is only the second year we have released coffees from the Bumba hill. Coffees from Bumba are processed at Long Miles’ most recent station, at Ninga. The new station has allowed Long Miles to expand their presence in the region, discovering new sources of excellent quality coffee. Bumba is one such example of the remoteness of the Ninga region, far from the reaches of electricity or running water. Coffee is the most important cash crop here, grown alongside a small selection of food crops for local consumption.
This incredibly remote nature of the region surrounding Ninga meant that access to the Long Miles eco-system of support was limited. With the completion of the new Ninga station, this changed, giving farmers full access to the Long Miles ‘Coffee Scout’ programme of agronomic support, and to fair and transparent pricing for the cherry they deliver.
This lot was first de-pulped, before an anaerobic fermentation of 48 hours in sealed plastic tanks. The process then continues in Long Miles’ traditional washed protocol. The anaerobic pre-fermentation of this lot leads to a character of crisp raspberry, deep molasses and a delicate black tea finish.
Gitwe Hill
This washed lot is composed of cherry from the Gitwe hill, from which we have purchased several times in the past. Gitwe consistently produces excellent quality coffee, due in part to rich soils and high altitude. In fact, it was this hill that was chosen for Long Miles’ model farm, where they produce their own coffee as an example for agronomic techniques for surrounding farmers. Coffee farmers from the Gitwe hill deliver to Long Miles’ Heza station. Heza sits at 1960 masl, so harvest normally starts around two weeks later here than at the lower altitude Bukeye station. This high altitude also leads to impressive views over the Kibira rainforest to Rwanda, which have given Heza its name; Heza means ‘beautiful place’ in Kirundi. Heza was built in January 2014, and now serves nearly 2,000 individual farmers. Heza also helps local farmers by supplying trees from a coffee tree nursery with over 15,000 seedlings.
Heza uses a double fermentation process, where the cherries are first de-pulped and fermented without water for around 12 hours, before water is added and the coffee is soaked for a further 12 hours. After this, the coffee is ‘footed’ to wash away the sticky mucilage layer attached to the outside of the coffee seed. This involves the workers stomping on the coffee in the tanks before it is moved to washing channels to be rinsed in clean water. Coffee is then dried slowly on raised beds over 20-30 days, depending on weather conditions.
This careful processing, along with excellent conditions on the Gitwe hill, seems to result in our favourite washed coffees year after year, with crisp and ripe redcurrant jam followed by a clean and herbal rooibos finish.
We are truly proud to be able to share Long Miles’ work with so many of you again this month.
Their work in creating traceability and separation in high quality lots has led to many memorable coffee experiences over the years, and their experimentation leads to further variation in the expressions of Burundian terroir they can create.