Bumba Bourbon

In 2019, Long Miles bought a plot of land 10 kilometers from the Bukeye Washing Station. Seated at 1,900 m.a.s.l. and flanked by the Nkokoma River, this became what is now the Ninga Washing Station, the third washing station to be built. After realizing that coffee farmers in this region were traveling far and wide to reach washing stations with fair scales that paid a just price for coffee cherries, the idea for Ninga was born. Although many small rivers run through this region, the communities here have limited access to clean drinking water and are far from electricity. To say Ninga is remote is an understatement. Even the glass bottles of Coca-Cola that usually find their way into tiny roadside shops are hard to come by in Ninga. Coffee trees occupy any space they can on this hill, from the edge of the single-track dirt paths that weave through the hills to the doorsteps of farmers’ self-made mud-brick houses. With every violent conflict that has broken out in Burundi, Ninga farmers have had to scatter into the surrounding hills and forest areas with no established place of refuge to run to. During these times, the coffee trees have stood alone, waiting for their owners to return. Eventually, farmers return home and try to combat the effects that years of neglect have had on their land. Yet since its first season, Ninga Hill has produced elegant, complex coffees with layered, clean flavors. Long Miles’s commitment to working more closely with this Hill has never been stronger.

You have to cross over three rivers and pass by two provincial borders to reach Bumba Hill. The farming communities that call Bumba home have limited access to clean drinking water and electricity. Coffee is the most important crop grown on the hill, closely competing with corn and beans. Step closer to the center of the Hill, and you’ll find a local market where people sell baskets full of freshly harvested crops and trade other household essentials. Only one primary school stands tall on Bumba Hill.