Burundian boutique coffee bean flavor taste manor production area introduces the characteristics of Burundian coffee

Nathan James Johnston, the boss of Cartel Coffee Roasters, said: "in fact, the first Burundian coffee I tested was coffee from one of the hills of Long Miles. It was a really unforgettable moment, and when we finished grinding the coffee beans, the strong smell of flowers filled the room, and I remember thinking that it felt like the highest level of Ethiopian coffee I was familiar with. I still remember the intoxicating feeling of breaking dregs and sipping coffee, which is why I love these Burundian micro-batches of coffee so much.

When it comes to quality control, Ben always takes it very seriously. Winning third and eighth place in the Burundian Excellence Cup is a very reliable proof of the potential he sees and how serious he is about coffee. A good example is that in the processing field, there is a fruit selection team, and all coffee has to go through a "secondary soaking" selection process to ensure that there are no defective beans that leak the net. The potential seen by Ben and Kristy in Burundi is not just business potential, but the potential to provide better coffee, a better society and a better life. "miserable" will no longer be used to describe Burundi. What they see on the faces of the producers are Kristy, the wife of "Happy" and "Happy" Ben, and local farmers. Many beautiful and moving photos in the producing areas are taken from her camera.

Picture from: LMCP

Nathan James Johnston, the boss of Cartel Coffee Roasters, said: "the reason we first learned about Long Miles was that we were very interested in them because we saw that they paid coffee pickers differently than usual. And see their participation in local infrastructure, better housing, living standards, health care and nutrition, which are very important things that Long Miles has done to local communities and people in Burundi.

2 real events

"changing people's lives" is such a heroic statement. But how can change be made to happen? In our conversation with Ben, we asked him to talk about the challenges he faced. There are obviously so many that he can talk for several days.

Coffee production in Burundi became privately owned in 2007, however, a considerable amount of government intervention and similar bribery still exist. On one occasion, a competitor's processing farm defrauded farmers of their salaries (only half paid, which is quite common in Burundi) in an attempt to prevent production farmers from cooperating with LMCP. They bribed local officials, blocked roads and hired young people to pretend to be drunk to intimidate growers and workers. Fortunately, the problem was solved by the person in charge on the mountain, but this challenge proves that transparency and change take courage, patience and constant passion. The difference between Ben and Kristy is that they make workers realize that LMCP is not a non-governmental public welfare organization, but a business. All growers' neighbors will be paid up to three cups after the harvest. But money is not so easy to earn, and they need to improve the quality of their work at the same time. In 2015, nearly 400 families stopped working with LMCP because of high quality standards for coffee, but by 2016, 1500 new families had signed contracts because they saw the sustainability of the benefits of the project.

"Sustainability" is an old topic in the boutique coffee industry, but most coffee companies still want to buy the best coffee at the lowest price, which is not sustainable for local growers. What can we do to solve this problem?

First of all, we need to understand one thing: for most Burundian families, they do not use the money earned from coffee to buy the most basic needs of life, such as food. They grow all the food in their own yard. On average, each family earns only $100 a year, which is usually spent on gas, home maintenance and tuition fees