Long Miles Coffee Project – 布隆迪咖啡的未来

五年前，Ben Carlson夫妇和他们的两个儿子，千里迢迢的从美国搬到了布隆迪，这一切只为了找到以及处理优质的咖啡。 布隆迪，就是那个位于东非，常年被人们视为“世上最贫穷国家”和“最凄惨的国家”的地方。然而，在Ben的眼里他看到了三样东西：咖啡、人以及它的巨大潜力。

咖啡和茶叶的出口是整个国家目前唯一的经济支柱，所以在2013年，Ben和他的妻子Kristy开始了这个Long Miles Coffee Project (LMCP)，希望改变当地咖啡的质量和人们的生活。在2015年，他们生产的咖啡赢得了布隆迪卓越杯（COE）的第3名和第8名，世界各地的烘焙商都对布隆迪的潜力表示肯定。

近期在上海，Ben像我们讲述了他的故事，并且像我们展示了一个富有激情的布隆迪传统击鼓表演。

咖啡

“布隆迪是一个对我们来说是一个相当有趣的国家。人们对咖啡的认知甚少，咖啡生产者和处理厂无法对他们的咖啡定价，就像人们无法识别未雕琢的玉器一样，因此这里的人们没有收入去做像其他国家正在使用的种植和处理方法，比如像巴拿马那样。” Augies Coffee的Tim Maestas（美国）这样说到。

布隆迪的咖啡最初是由德国人在1900年代带进的；他们发现“波旁”是最适合在当地气候环境种植的咖啡品种，当地的气候通常是“热带”高原气候，有着非常大的昼夜温差。然而由于对咖啡研究投资的中止，“波旁”成了留在这个国家的唯一一个咖啡品种，并且一直使用着“全水洗”的处理方式。

精品咖啡的发展需要不断突破创新。 在2014年，Long Miles Coffee Project (LMCP)开始对他们生产的咖啡使用了日晒处理法以及蜜处理法，这使得专业的咖啡杯测师都对咖啡的味道喜出望外。据Latorre & Dutch咖啡亚洲的负责人顾沁茹小姐说: “通常我们能够在水洗的布隆迪咖啡中喝到柑橘和梅果的风味。而这是我们第一次杯测日晒以及蜜处理的布隆迪咖啡。它的风味变成了更为复杂的草莓，葡萄和热带水果。看来处理方式对于咖啡的味道至关重要。”

 可追溯性是在咖啡种植者，生豆买家和咖啡烘焙师所面对的常见的问题。目前总共有大约3500个家庭在为LMCP工作。生产采摘区域分布在八个不同的山头和两个处理场——Bukeye（2013年开始运作）和Heza（2014年开始运作）。 许许多多的变量都会影响最终生豆的品质，比如说，每个山头都有着不同的微气候，而这些微气候又会影响到咖啡果实的成长，采摘以及处理，并且每天都不同。澳大利亚的Cartel Coffee Roasters的老板Nathan James Johnston说： “与Long Miles合作后，我们能够明确的知道咖啡是在哪里，什么时候，又是由谁来采摘的，这对我们意义非凡”。

人

1  可持续性

“可持续性”是精品咖啡行业老生常谈的话题，然而大多数的咖啡公司依然希望能够以最低的的价格买到最好的咖啡，这对于当地的种植者而言并非可持续的行为。我们对此又有什么解决方法呢？

首先，我们要了解一件事情，对于大部分的布隆迪家庭而言，他们并不使用咖啡赚到的钱来购买生活的最基本需求，比如说，食物。所有的食物都是他们在自己的院子里种植得到的。平均来看，每个家庭每年的收入只有区区100美金，这些钱通常都花在购买油，房屋维护和学费上。

Ben和Kristy所做的这件事情的不同之处在于他们让工人们认识到LMCP不是一个非政府公益组织，而是一个生意。所有的种植者邻里在收获结束后都可以得到高达三杯的报酬。但是钱也不是那么好赚的，他们同时需要提高工作的质量。在2015年，由于对咖啡的质量标准太高，有将近400个家庭不再继续与LMCP合作；不过到了2016年，有1500个新的家庭签订了合约，因为他们看到了这个项目带来的好处。

Cartel Coffee Roasters的老板Nathan James Johnston说： “我们之所以在第一次了解到Long Miles是就对他们产生了极大的兴趣是因为我们看到了他们对咖啡采摘者的报酬与平常不同。并且看到了他们对当地基础建设、更好的住房、生活水平、医疗水平和营养状况的参与，这些都是Long Miles对布隆迪当地社区和人们所做的相当重要的事情” 。

 2  真实事件

“改变人们的生活”说起来是如此豪言壮语。 然而如何才能让改变发生呢？在与Ben的交谈中，我们请他讲讲他所面对过的挑战。显然有非常多，可以让他讲上好几天。

布隆迪咖啡的生产在2007年变为私有制的，然而，有相当多的政府干预和类似贿赂的问题依然存在。有一次，一个竞争对手的处理场欺诈了农民的薪酬（只支付了一半，这在布隆迪相当常见），试图阻止生产农民与LMCP合作。他们贿赂了当地的官员，封锁了道路，雇佣一些年轻人假装喝醉来捣乱恐吓种植者和工人。所幸问题最后通过山上的负责人来解决了，不过这样的挑战证明了透明化和改变是需要勇气，耐性和持续的激情才能实现的。

潜力

Cartel Coffee Roasters的老板Nathan James Johnston说： “其实我第一次杯测的布隆迪咖啡就是来自Long Miles的其中一个山头的咖啡。那真的是非常令人难忘的瞬间，当我们研磨完咖啡豆之后，那强烈的花香充满了整个房间，我记得当时还在想这感觉就像是那些我所熟悉的最高级别的埃塞俄比亚咖啡的花香。我依然记得在破渣和啜吸咖啡时那让人陶醉的感觉，这些正是为什么我如此热爱这些布隆迪的微批次咖啡” 。

当讲到品质控制，Ben总是非常严肃对待的。这次赢得了布隆迪卓越杯的第三名和第八名就是对他所看到的潜力的一个非常可靠的证明，同时也证实了他对咖啡是多么认真。一个很好的例子，在处理场中，有一个果实挑选小队，所有的咖啡也要经过一个“二次浸泡”的挑选过程，保证了不会有漏网的瑕疵豆出现。Ben和Kristy所看到的布隆迪的潜力已经不只是生意上的潜力，而是对于提供更优质的咖啡、更好的社会、更好的生活的潜力。“悲惨”将不会再被用来形容布隆迪了，他们在生产者脸上看到的是“幸福”和“快乐”。

杯中的咖啡就是最好的见证。

特别感谢澳大利亚Cartel Coffee Roasters的Nathan James Johnston (http://www.coffeecartel.com.au/). 同时感谢Augies coffee 的Tim Maestas (http://www.augies.coffee/) 和Latorre & Dutch 亚洲的顾沁如小姐 (http://www.lattoredutchcoffee.com).

作者： Dianne Wang

译者：季晓东

Long Miles Coffee Project – Future of Burundi Coffee

posted in: coffee origins, coffee people, origins, people | 0

Long miles, are what it takes to find great coffee.

Five years ago, Ben Carlson and his wife and two sons, moved from America to Burundi, long long miles to find and produce great coffee. Burundi, is an East African country that has always been tagged as “the poorest country” or “the most miserable country” in the world; but in Ben’s eyes, it has three things: coffee, people and potential.

The Carlson family. Photo credit: LMCP.

Coffee and tea exports have been the ONLY forces to support the country’s economy, so in 2013, Ben and wife Kristy started Long Miles Coffee Project, to change peoples’ lives. In 201, their production won Burundi Cup of Excellence (CoE) no.3 and no.8, roasters around the world are nodding to the potential Burundi can bring.

Recently in Shanghai, Ben unfolded the Long Miles story to us, with an influential passion and some traditional Burundi drumming.

A traditional Burundi drum Ben brought with to Shanghai. Photo credit: Dianne Wang.

Coffee

“Burundi has been an interesting country for us. With coffee that has such little recognition, it’s less likely to come across diamonds in the rough as producers and mills are less able to demand the prices that their coffee is worth, so they don’t have the income to process and grow the way some other countries do, for example, Panama.”, said Tim Maestas of Augies Coffee (US).

The rich colored soil in Burundi. Photo credit: LMCP.

       1  Processing

Coffee was first introduced to Burundi by the Germans in 1900s; they found that “bourbon” was the best variety to grow under the local climate, which in general a “tropical” highland climate with big temperature gap between day and night.  Due to lack of investment in coffee research, “bourbon” has remained the only variety produced in this country, and always been processed “fully-washed”.

The specialty coffee industry evolves when boundaries are pushed. In 2014, LMCP introduced sun-dried natural- and honey-process to its productions, which brought nice surprises to professional coffee cuppers. According to Catherine Gu, Managing Director at Latorre & Dutch Coffee Asia, “generally washed Burundi is full of citric and berry flavours. This is the first time we cupped natural and honey-processed Burundi. The flavour profile changed to a complexity of strawberry, grape and tropical fruits. Processing is vital to coffee”.

Cherry selection is the key to quality. Farmers working with cherries at Bukeye washing station. Photo credit: LMCP.

       2  Traceability

Traceability is a common issue between coffee producers, green bean buyers and coffee roasters. Currently there are 3500 families working for Long Miles Coffee Project, over eight hills and two washing stations – Bukeye (operating from 2013) and Heza (operating from 2014). There are many variables contributing to the final green bean quality, for example, each hill has different micro climate, which affects how the cherries are picked and processed, everyday can be different. However, “working with Long Miles, we have been able to know where, when and who picked our coffee, which is very important in specialty coffee industry to understand everyone involved”, said Nathan James Johnston, owner of Cartel Coffee Roasters (Australia).

When roasters cup the LMCP coffees, they know exactly which hill the cherries are picked, who picked and processed them, what day the coffee was picked and processed. Photo credit: Dianne Wang.

People

       1  Sustainability

The specialty coffee industry talks about “sustainability” all the time, but majority of coffee businesses are still seeking the best possible coffee with lowest possible price, which is not sustainable for the local farmers. What solution do we have?

There is one thing that we have to understand, families in Burundi do not use coffee money on the very fundamental living, i.e. food. All the food is from their own backyard, home grown. On average, these families earn US$100 for the whole year, and usually spend on oil, house maintenance or school fees.

The locals. Photo credit: LMCP.

What Ben and Kristy have done differently was to make sure their workers understand that Long Miles Coffee Project is not NGO,but rather it is a business. All the neighbor farmers are paid at the end of harvest, as high as three times premiums. But the salaries do not come easy, they have to be earned by working up to standard.  In 2015, Long Miles lost 400 families because coffee quality standard was higher; but in 2016, 1500 new families signed up because they see the benefit of Long Miles’ system.

“The reason why we first looked and were very interested in the Long Miles Coffee Project was that we can see change with the amount the hand-pickers were paid and the infrastructure that is now in place, better housing, living standards, health care, nutrition all come in to play, that is the important job Long Miles does for the community and for the people of Burundi.”, said Nathan James Johnston of Cartel Coffee Roasters (Australia).

Kristy is the person who captured the lives of the farmers. Photo credit: LMCP.

       2  True Story

“Making a change to people’s life” is spectacular phrase to say. But what about the effort to make changes happen? In the conversation with Ben, we asked him to tell us some of the challenges he faced. There were simply too many, he could go on for days.

Burundi’s coffee production was privatized in 2007, however there are still government involvements and issues such as bribery. One time, a rival washing station who has been cheating with farmer’s pays (only pay by half, which is common situation in Burundi), tried to stop farmers going to work for Long Miles. They bribed local officials, blocked the road, and paid youngsters to play drunk to intimidate naeighbor farmers and workers. The situation was eventually solved by the Chief of the Hill, but challenges like this show that transparency and changes do take some guts, patience and on-going passion to achieve.

The local farmer. Photo credit: LMCP.

Potential

“The first time I cupped coffee from Burundi, it was actually from a hill from the Long Miles Coffee Project. It is a moment I will never forget, the intense aroma of flowers filled the room after grinding the coffee, I could remember thinking that these could be as floral as some of the best Ethiopians that I was familiar with. I remember breaking the crust and sipping it was such a pleasurable moment that drew me in and is what now makes me love these micro-lots from Burundi”, from Nathan James Johnston – Cartel Coffee Roasters (Australia).

When it comes to quality control, Long Miles is all serious business. Winning no.3 and no. 8 at Burundi Cup of Excellence this year is a solid proof of the potential he saw, and how serious he is about his coffee. One example, at the washing stations, there are “cherry selection” teams; and all the selected cherries go through a “second soaking” process to make sure there are no left-out defects.

The potential Ben and Kristy saw in Burundi is no longer a potential business, it is the potential to produce better coffee, better community, better life. “Miserable” is never the word they would use to describe “Burundi”, on the contrary, “happiness” and “joy” are what they see on the farmers’ faces.

“Miserable” was never what Ben and Kristy saw on farmers’ faces. Photo credit: LMCP.

The quality of coffee makes the justice. 

Written by Dianne Wang.

Special thanks to Nathan James Johnston of Cartel Coffee Roasters (http://www.coffeecartel.com.au/) . Cartel Coffee Roasters is currently the sole distributor of Long Miles Coffee Project in Australia.

Also thanks Tim Maestas at Augies Coffee (http://www.augies.coffee/) and Catherin Gu at Lattore & Dutch Aisa (http://www.lattoredutchcoffee.com) for the contribution.

原文载于cuppingspoon，请点击原文链接查看。