Burundi - Migoti Hill Lot 1

This naturally processed beauty from Migoti Hill washing station is wowing us with its juicy complexity, strawberry and apricot flavour, and clean long lasting finish.

Migoti Coffee Company buys coffee cherries grown by smallholder farmers whose plots are in the surrounding mountains overlooking Lake Tanganyika. The name Migoti comes from a local indigenous tree. A relatively new washing station, Migoti Hill was built in 2016. The team works closely with their supplying producers to provide education and support on things like pruning, intercropping, planting shade trees, utilising green fertilisers, stabilising soils and natural pest control. 

Migoti Hill washing station is operated by a local team of ten permanent staff and over 250 temporary workers who are employed during the coffee season from March to June. The station manager, Zephyrin Banzubaze, is responsible for managing all the staff, communicating with coffee farmers, receiving and selecting coffee cherries, processing the coffee, overseeing the drying process, storing and milling the dry parchment coffee and preparing the final green coffee for export. The majority of the temporary staff are women who work mainly on the raised drying tables, regularly turning the coffee as it dries and removing defective beans that compromise the quality. 

Burundi is among the smallest coffee producing countries in East Africa, it is endowed with ideal conditions for coffee production with elevations of 1,500-2,000 metres above sea level and abundant rainfall. Approximately 800,000 families countrywide cultivate an average of 150 - 200 coffee trees per farm. Arabica, specifically Bourbon varietal, represents nearly all of Burundi's coffee production which, along with the unique terroir of the mountains, lends Burundi coffees their distinctive bright, juicy acidity and floral characteristics.