We Nitrogen Flush all of our coffee when bagging for an inert shelf stable environment by locking freshness inside for up to 6 weeks prior to opening
 
Producers: 322 Farmers owning an average of 300m2 each
Region: Gaharo Hill, Muramvya Province
Varietal: Bourbon
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1700 - 2100 masl
 
 
Long Miles Coffee Project was started by Ben & Kristy Carlson when they moved to Burundi in 2011 and saw that both injustice and poor farming practices permeated the country’s newly privatized coffee industry. They launched Long Miles with a vision of developing grass roots coffee programs and establishing meaningful relationships between coffee producers in Burundi and roasters around the world.
 
Gaharo holds a special place in the heart of Long Miles Coffee.  The first washing station built by Long Miles rests at the feet of Gaharo hill, on a piece of land that seemed to be long forgotten by everyone else. Every inch of it was cleared by Gaharo farmers and bricks were made from clay found in the valley below. The same farmers who helped to build Bukeye from scratch now deliver their cherries to it.  Gaharo farmers have become Long Miles'  neighbors and co-workers. They have grown, worked and developed as a community “twese hamwe”; together. What sets this hill apart from others in the region is the number of blacksmiths hand-crafting metal into knives and farming tools.
 
Bukeye Washing Station has its own borehole water source and a granite filtered well. During the fully washed process freshly harvested cherries are delivered by coffee farmers to the
Long Miles Coffee Washing Station, then floated and hand-sorted for ripeness upon arrival. The cherries are pulped and undergo a single fermentation process. Parchment spends around twelve hours dry fermenting. The parchment is sometimes ‘footed’ after fermentation. A team will agitate and dance on the slippery coffee parchment by foot, helping to loosen any remaining mucilage clinging to it. It is then rinsed in fresh water, graded by density and left to soak for another four to six hours in the final rinse tank. The parchment is carried to covered drying tables where it spends between six and forty-eight hours pre-drying. During this time, it is hand-picked for under-ripeness, over-ripeness, insect damage and visual defects. It is then moved to traditional African raised tables where it spends between sixteen to twenty days slow drying (depending on the weather) until it reaches the desired 10.5% moisture level.
 
All Photos by Long Miles Coffee Project