BURUNDI strawberry ∙ melon ∙ candy sweetness
We are proud to present one of the
season’s most exciting coffees that is a naturally processed lot coming from the surrounding hills of Nkonge.
LONG MILES COFFEE PROJECT
T
he distinctive smell of Nkonge street food lingers on the way to the top of the hill. The mixture of grilled pork and the traditional goat dishes is just as surprising to the European palate as the unique coffees of grown in Nkonge. A six kilometres walk from the Heza washing station, Nkonge hill produces simply the best coffee in the country. The farm is led by Pia, the well-known manager in the area. The secret of Nkonge lies in the high altitude of the farms and in the natural springs that find their way out of the hill and the rich soil that is never dry. As a result, this region produces the most unique tasting, floral and sweetest coffees in the Long Miles Collection. Long Miles is a project started in 2012 with the aim of finding and marketing the best micro-lot coffees in Burundi. The philosophy of the project is to unite all quality-oriented local coffee growers. Long Miles is a family enterprise that really stresses the importance of “purchasing right from the growers”. The
project connects coffee growers, processing stations and roasters to improve the quality of the coffee. We have become dedicated partners of Long Miles, directed by Ben Carlson. As we have met him on several occasions, we are absolutely sure that no other organization can take quality-oriented coffee growing more seriously. He firmly believes that the best coffees in the world come from Burundi and are produced by the farmers of Long Miles. Compared to prominent coffee exporter countries like Kenya or Ethiopia, Burundi is just a small fish in a pond, albeit an ever growing one. Burundi’s share in the world coffee market is only 0.5 percent, but thanks to the local initiatives and reforms more and more high quality coffee is exported from this east-African country. The Belgians started large-scale coffee growing in Burundi during the 1960s, but despite the favourable geographical features of the country, the coffee produced in Burundi all ended up on the bottom selves of supermarkets as cheap brand coffees. Burundi has a predominantly tropical climate, but the mountain-
ous coffee growing areas have a moderate sub-climate, with temperatures ranging from 17-23 Celsius. The stable and predictable weather makes it an ideal place to grow coffee. Thanks to the country’s geographical profile almost every hill, or colline in the local language, has its own micro-climate. There are several farmers that have more than a hundred thousand coffee plants, and the number of such large-scale farmers is way above the national average.
Our coffees taste the best when extracted with water of the proper hardness* range. In order to highlight the best flavour of our roasts we recommend having 5 to 10 days of resting period after roasting, but consume within two weeks of opening. Enjoy!
Nkonge hill is led by a woman chief called Pia. Pia’s hopes are for more development and improved food security on her hill. “It’s hard to hope...” - says Pia, ”... when so much has been lost.” The war brought great losses to Nkonge, but Pia believes it is now time for peace, and time to grow more coffee. We couldn’t agree with her more.
COFFEE. PEOPLE. POTENTIAL.
* Total hardness: 50 –175 ppm CaCO3 (2.9–9.8 °d), ppm CaCO3 (2.2–4.2 °d), pH: 6.5-8.0.
alkalinity/buffer: 40 –75 (The SCAE Water Chart)
photo by the Long Miles Coffee Project
NKONGE