This season, we are featuring a selection of superb lots from Bumba Hill. Despite ongoing deforestation in many areas or Burundi, Kayanza remains well-suited for coffee, with altitudes that climb to 2000 meters, volcanic soils, and rainfall of 1300 mm per year. The Long Miles Project helps farmers around Bumba Hill receive the recognition they deserve for their coffee. Lot 1 is a vibrant espresso, with the bright note of tangerine and a smooth, creamy texture.
The Cup
This is a coffee with clarity and balance. Washed processing delivers clean flavours of tangerine, apricot, and black tea. A sweet note of almond makes this lot a delicious base for milk drinks.
The Farm
Ben and Kristy Carlson moved to Burundi in 2011 and saw that both injustice and poor farming practices permeated the country's newly privatized coffee industry. They also saw that roasters around the world had a difficult time getting consistently great coffees from Burundi. In an effort to see positive change in both farmers and roasters lives, Long Miles Coffee was born.
Long Miles Project is a farmer-driven coffee production model. They work with coffee farming families on eleven unique hills within Burundi. Long Miles create traceable micro-lots that yield consistently great coffees while improving the livelihoods of the small holding farmers who grow them. Here are three of the most important ways to do this:
The farmers who grow coffee on the eleven hills receive year-round agricultural assistance through one of the twenty-six Long Miles Coffee Scouts who are trained agronomists.
Long Miles pay higher prices for coffee cherries as well as annual premiums.
They strengthen relationships between roaster and farmer so they can serve coffee from a specific hill year after year.
