BURUNDI NGOZI COFFEE

This coffee is a micro lot coffee produced by Procasta and Ikawa Nziza.  Procasta was launched by a Burundian couple Pierre Nzeyimana and Léoncie Minani in 2012 with their main goal to improve the lives of their fellow Burundians. Since its creation, Procasta’s washing station has positively impacted families in the region by giving jobs to men and women which in turn allows them to pay medical expenses, schooling and books for children. Procasta also has plans to build bridges - both to help farmers transport their coffees to the washing station but also to facilitate travel as current roads are not always practical or useable. In addition, Procasta subsidizes farmers for farming inputs.  

Procasta works with 2,000 smallholder farmers at altitudes ranging between 1,700 and 1,950 masl. This lot is milled & exported by Ikawa Nziza which began a partnership with Schluter (now Olam Specialty Coffee Europe) in 2013 specifically aimed at building and promoting specialty coffee production in Burundi. IKAWA NZIZA’s mill is the first purpose-built specialty dry mill in Burundi, designed to cater for high-quality microlot coffees.

Ripe cherries are carefully selected before being pulped and washed at the mill. The coffee is then dried on raised African beds, turned periodically for even drying and covered during the hottest part of the day to prevent sun damage. Once optimum moisture levels have been reached, the coffee is transported for dry milling to Ikawa Nziza’s mill in Gashoho commune between the towns of Ngozi & Muyinga. The mill is designed to cater to small, traceable microlots. Its location in a high altitude and low humidity environment provides the optimal atmosphere to preserve the quality of the coffee and therefore obtain the highest possible price for farmers. From there the processed coffee is handpicked and trucked to Mombasa, Kenya for shipment.