Burundi Businde

Businde – the name of a washing station – is owned and operated by station manager, Zuberi Matsitsi. Around 650 farming families deliver their coffee cherries, all comprised of the bourbon variety commonly grown in Burundi, to this station. Businde pays 60% above the typical labor pay rate in Burundi, incentivizing coffee growers to grow coffee, and to sell to Businde. Zuberi gives back to the local farmers by distributing coffee pulp as fertilizer, as well as distributing new seedlings out to his producers. 

The first step when the coffee cherries arrive at the station is to float them in water. This separates the high-density cherries from the defective cherries, an easy first step in quality control. Next, after the grades are sorted out, the weights are recorded and the coffees are sent to be fermented in water overnight, usually for about 12 hours, as coffees are received in the afternoon hours. The coffee is then sorted visually and picked through by hand to remove any sort of defects from the batch. The coffees that will be processed as fully washed will then be pulped of the fruit and sent down serpentine channels to be washed clean of the sticky mucilage and set out to dry on raised beds in the sun to further go more hand-sorting and drying.