Microlot

Burundi microlots are selected out of the daylots created by various centralized washing stations, basis cup quality. Because the average farmer in Burundi owns 1/8–1/4 a hectare of land, many smallholder farmers will deliver their fresh cherry to a washing station in order to be sorted and processed; microlots, then, are blended lots comprising coffees from many producers that express exquisite coffee, but are not generally traceable to the individual producers.

Nemba

Nemba Washing Station is located in the province of Kayanza and was established in 1991. Farmers here own less than half a hectare of land, on average, and in addition to growing coffee, they also grow crops like bananas, beans, yams, taro, and cassava, both for sale and for household use. There are 3113 farmers that deliver to this washing station. Each farmer has roughly 168 trees on about a sixth of a hectare of land.

Due to the small size and yield on the average coffee farm or plot, washing stations are the primary point of purchase for us in Burundi. Unlike other coffee-growing regions in Central and South America where landholdings are slightly larger and coffee-centric resources are more available, most producers do not have space on their property or the financial means to do their wet- or dry-milling. Instead, the majority of growers deliver cherry to a facility that does sorting, blending, and post-harvest processing of day lots to create different offerings.

Since 2006, we have cupped coffees from more than 50 washing stations in an attempt to pinpoint those with the best practices, cleanest cups, and most high-quality nearby farms. While the logistics of buying coffees from Burundi are extremely challenging, we love the heavy figgy, fruity, and lively coffees we find here—they remind us like a Malbec, with a firm support of acidity.