Gitwe is a beautiful community lot from Burundi. We are buying this coffee from Osito Coffees (importer) who source it from Long Miles Coffee (producer/exporter), a farmer-driven production model founded in 2011 by Ben and Kristy Carlson to tackle systemic economic injustice and quality volatility in Burundi's coffee sector. This lot is named after one of the hills where smallholder families cultivate coffee alongside subsistence crops in the Kayanza province, right on the edge of the Kibira National Park. By pairing rigorous quality control at their washing stations with grassroots community projects, Long Miles transforms coffee from a precarious commodity into a vehicle for generational stability.
 
Social Kontext
 
Burundian coffee farmers operate in a highly vulnerable economic landscape, which Long Miles counters through innovative social safety nets. Their Summer Schools program (the Long Miles Coffee Kid Camp) has experienced massive growth, scaling from 3,000 children at its inception to 12,000 attendees recently. This camp provides a safe, educational environment between school terms and supplies essential school materials. By lifting the financial burden of school gear in September, it frees up farmer income for seeds and essential household items. Additionally, the Animal Solidarity Program distributes pigs to farmers, providing training on proper animal welfare while establishing food security. When the livestock breeds, piglets are gifted to neighbours to create a self-sustaining cycle of community mutual aid.
 
Economic Kontext
 
Economic stability at the farm level is driven by direct market access, year-round support, and fair compensation. Long Miles pays higher prices for coffee cherries at their washing stations alongside annual premiums. To safeguard these premiums from quality loss, a team of twenty-six young Burundian Coffee Scouts act as grassroots community changers. Living on the very hills they serve, these junior agronomists assist over 5,500 farming families free of charge. They guide farmers through selective cherry picking, run model "Farmer Field Schools," and manage quality control at washing stations. This hands-on structure bridges the gap between rural smallholders and global roasters, turning relationship-building into concrete economic security.
 
Environmental Kontext
 
Farming on the steep hills of Burundi presents severe environmental hurdles, heavily exacerbated by climate change. The Coffee Scouts actively combat these threats by teaching communities the importance of mulching, organic fertilizing, and seasonal pruning. Crucially, they deploy home-grown solutions to target the antestia bug—a colorful pest responsible for the notorious "potato taste defect". During Summer School, children are even taught how to manually catch these bugs, helping their parents reduce pest pressure naturally at the farm level without relying on costly chemical pesticides. To anchor the region's long-term ecology, Long Miles runs Trees For Kibira, a reforestation project dedicated to planting half a million trees around Burundi’s only natural rainforest. Backed by the scouts' nursery work, they have already planted over 300,000 indigenous shade trees to restore soil health, regulate microclimates, and secure agricultural landscapes for generations to come.