Organic conversion of specialty coffee in Burundi's Kayanza province

"Organic coffee from Burundi?" - In 2023, Ecodiverse established a partnership with the owners of the Heza washing station in Burundi's Kayanza province.

The founder of Ecodiverse, Ignace, proposed to the owners of the Heza washing station to train and educate some of the coffee farmers they work with in organic principles and thus create the basis for organically certified specialty coffee from Burundi.

The idea was well received, which has now resulted in the beginning of the conversion to organic for a group of 500 small coffee farmers.

The market's purchasing power and demand for our coffee will be crucial for the further progress of the implementation of organic in Burundi.

Green transition

Heza is located at an altitude of 1955 meters above sea level and the high altitude also leads to impressive views of the Kibira rainforest, which gives Heza its name; Heza means 'beautiful place' in Kirundi. The Heza washing station was built in January 2014 and now serves nearly 2,000 individual farmers. Heza also helps local farmers by supplying them with trees from a coffee tree nursery with over 15,000 seedlings.

Heza uses a processing method that involves double fermentation. First, the skins are removed from the coffee berries and then they are fermented without water for around 12 hours. Water is then added to the container and the coffee beans are soaked for another 12 hours. The coffee is washed to remove the sticky layer of pulp on the outside of the coffee berry. This involves workers stomping on the coffee in the tanks before it is transferred to washing channels where the beans are rinsed in clean water.