Burundi Long Miles Gitwe Hill

COUNTRY: Burundi
REGION: Kayanza
FARM: LMCP, Small Holders
VARIETY: Red Bourbon
PROCESS: Washed
ELEVATION: 2000 M
CUPPING NOTES: Tangerine, Caramel, Mulling Spices

     This is our sixth year buying coffee from the Long Miles Coffee Project in Burundi.  Long Miles Coffee Project, started by Ben and Kristy Carlson, creates traceable micro-lots that yield consistently great coffees while improving the livelihoods of the small holding farmers who grow them. They offer year-long agricultural assistance to farmers as well as paying premiums for high quality cherry.  Their practices allow us to purchase these coffees year after year with predictable excellent quality.
     This Bourbon is from the Heza washing station and was grown above 2000 masl on Gitwe Hill, where more than 1500 families are part of the Long Miles Coffee Project.        LMCP is a microlot business. All of their infrastructure, systems, employees, and marketing are designed to support large numbers of unique and fully traceable coffees. Doing so in Burundi is especially difficult because farms produce very little cherry and are scattered across broad landscapes. They are also numerous, requiring the successful coordination of hundreds of farmers and processing staff just to produce a single differentiated lot. Importantly, such an effort requires sustainable prices to support, so the coffee itself needs to be as delicious as possible. Fortunately LMCP excels at identifying landscapes and communities with potential, and investing heavily in farmer livelihood. With this formula they are easily producing many of the country’s best coffees each year. 
     LMCP organizes their farmer base by the hills they live on, designating delivery days of the week for each microregion. This is common practice for processors in Burundi, but unlike most, LMCP separates every hill and delivery day until processing is complete and a quality assessment has been made. Contributing farmers from Bumba hill are registered partners with LMCP and receive not only highly competitive prices and post-harvest premiums for their cherry, but also farm-level trainings covering canopy and fertilizer development, pruning, harvesting for quality and integrated pest management. Farmer trainings are all provided by local “Coffee Scouts”, LMCP’s team of community-based trainers who serve as local instructors. The education and high prices combined have helped many of LMCP’s farmers renew their faith in coffee as a long-term livelihood. Long Miles works with a total of 5,500 farmers between their 3 washing stations, servicing 11 different hills.
    This classic washed profile is full of juiciness and citrus character.  If you like really sweet coffees with notes of orange and brown sugar this one is not to be missed!