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.
Long Miles are one of our longest standing partners, and have been working in Burundi for over a decade.
This washed lot is composed of cherry from the Munyinya hill, the birthplace of the Long Miles project. This was where Long Miles first discovered the potential of Burundian coffee, tasting stellar lots, and sparking the idea of the project. Farmers on Munyinya deliver to the Bukeye station, Long Miles original station built in 2013.
Bukeye 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, alongside the excellent conditions on the Munyinya hill, result in crisp and ripe redcurrant jam followed by a clean and herbal rooibos finish.
Coffee farmers from the Mikuba hill deliver to Long Miles’ nearby 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. This lot from Mikuba has been processed using a natural method. This softens the typical fresh and bright berry notes into a rich and sweet jam, and rounds out the often slightly herbal finish into dark chocolate.
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.