Clifton Coffee Roasters: Burundi, Gacokwe Washing Station, Washed

Gacokwe Washing Station is located in the town of Rango, which is located in Burundi’s Kayanza province. Roughly 2,000 coffee producers in the area deliver coffee to the station, either directly or to six local collection points that are affiliated to Gacokwe. Farmers here own less than half a hectare of land, on average, and in addition to growing coffee, they also grow crops like bananas, beans, yams, taro, and cassava, both for sale and for household use.

Due to the small size and yield on the average coffee farm or plot, washing stations are the primary point of purchase for us in Burundi. Unlike other coffee-growing regions in Central and South America where landholdings are slightly larger and coffee-centric resources are more available, most producers do not have space on their property or the financial means to do their wet- or dry-milling. Instead, the majority of growers deliver cherry to a facility that does sorting, blending, and post-harvest processing of day lots to create different offerings.