We taste: tropical, pineapple, nectarine

Farm: smallholder farmers in the village of Rugembe
Region: Bujumbura Rurale, Mumirwa
Processing Method: Washed
Elevation: 1,500-2,000 msl
Variety: Bourbon

This coffee comes to us from the hills of Burundi, the heart of Africa. This fully washed lot comes from smallholder farmers located on Rugembe Hill, near Migoti Washing Station.

Pontien Ntunzwenimana is majority owner of the Migoti Washing Station in Mutambu, Burundi and was born and lived through his childhood in Mutambu. The multi-generational coffee farmers in Pontien’s home community had all but abandoned coffee as a source of income due to the 12-year civil war (1993-2005) when their Arabica coffee trees were neglected and destroyed. With peace in the country and a state-of-the-art coffee washing station that Pontien built in 2016, the local community has new-found hope for the future, and farmers are again investing in their coffee farms. Pontien’s six years of green coffee production in Mutambu (2016-2022) have proven the local coffee to be some of the best in Burundi.

Migoti Coffee's vision is to see the local coffee-growing community grow in health and economic prosperity, with quality coffee production as one of several entrepreneurial activities underway.

One clear indicator of a focus on quality is an increase in washing stations in a country where transportation is a challenge. The closer a washing station is to coffee trees, the greater control over quality. Burundi has seen a significant increase in the number of washing station over the last ten years and in recent years internal economic structures have liberalized enough for growers to experience increased income for increased quality.