Burundi, Rubirizi - Filter

Roast Style: Filter Roast
Tasting Notes: Mandarin, Lilac, Plum
Origin: Kayanza Province, Burundi
Producer: Long Miles Coffee Project
Washing Station: Bukeye Washing Station
Varieties: Bourbon
Altitude: 1700m
Processing: Washed

This Washed Red Bourbon lot, purchased through Osito via Long Miles Coffee Project, was selected for its quintessential Burindi profile and fresh flavours.

Rubirizi hill sits 1,750 meters above sea level, just east of Gaharo where the Long Miles story began. The border separating Muramvya and Kayanza provinces runs between these two hills, with Gaharo being in Muramvya and Rubirizi in Kayanza.

Life on Rubirizi hill is fairly representative of much of Burundian rural life: most people are engaged in agriculture, producing food for themselves and their families. Common crops include maize, beans, potatoes, cassava, peas, bananas, sweet potatoes, and, of course, coffee. It is also common to see mangoes being grown in Rubirizi - something that makes this hill unique amongst the surrounding hills.

BUKEYE WASHING STATION

This particular lot was processed at the Bukeye Washing Station, which sits at the base of the Gaharo Hill and was the first washing station built by Long Miles. The land for the wet mill was cleared by Gaharo farmers, and the bricks for its construction were collected in the valley below. The same farmers who helped build this special place now deliver their coffee cherries to it. 

Though farmers from Rubirizi have delivered to Bukeye washing station for a number of years, there was never the critical mass needed to separate their coffee and process them as their own traceability. With more farmers, however, choosing to work with Long Miles, bolstered by the bumper crop we experienced this year, Osito had enough Rubirizi to keep the hill separate and present it on its own.

We selected this coffee for it's crisp and Spring-like acidity, like mandarin, blackberry & black currant along with notes of fresh lilac and the sweetness of Summer fruits.