This coffee is produced by 1,323 smallholders who deliver cherry to the Gihere Washing Station (a washing station operated by Bugestal).
The Gihere Washing Station was founded in 1984, and is now overseen by Romeon Patience. The station includes 3 soaking tanks, 12 fermentation tanks, 230 drying tables, 4 selection tables and 6 floating tanks. This station processes up to 1,200 metric tonnes of cherry through April to June. This station ensures local coffee farming familys are paid fair prices.
Each farming family has approximately 250 trees, often in their backyard. Each tree can produce up to 1.5kg of cherry per harvest, meaning the average farmer produces 200-300kg per harvest. Zest has purchased 300kg of this lot, equivilant to one family's full harvest.
The family's deliver their coffee to the washing station, or various collection sites through the growing areas. Once the cherry arrives at the washing station, the cherry is floated to seperate the 'floaters' from the quality coffee. The cherry is then hand sorted and transported to drying tables.
Natural coffees are less common in Burundi than in other countries. This coffee is laid out in a single layer, and dried dlowly for 3-4 weeks with the full cherry intact. During nights, rain, and the hottest parts of the day, the cherry is covered in tarps. The cherry is dried to 11.5%.
After processing, the coffee is transported to Budeca, Burundi's largest dry mill. Here, the coffee is milled and hand sorted with extreme attention to detail using technology like UV lighting to point out defects. Any defects are discarded. A team of two hand-pickers takes a day to process one bag of coffee. Budeca employs 10% of the population of Gitega, the city Budeca is located in.
