Burundi has long been overlooked in comparison to its neighboring East African specialty coffee producing powerhouses. The country’s coffee is produced almost entirely by smallholder farmers, and much of this small-scale production is of exceptional quality. The farmers bringing coffee to the Nemba washing station own an average of 150 trees (usually in their backyard), each yielding roughly 1.5kg of cherry, so the average producer sells about 200 to 300 kilos only of cherry annually.
 
Located in the north of Kayanza province, Nemba washing station receives cherry from 1,074 smallholder producers cultivating coffee in the ideal climate at 1,700+ meters above sea level. All the factors contribute to the fragrantly floral and sweetly fruity profile we so love from Nemba.
 
During the harvest season, all coffee is selectively hand-picked. 
Quality assurance begins as soon as farmers deliver their cherry. Cherry is wet-processed under constant supervision at the Nemba station. The pulping, fermentation time, washing, grading in the channels and a final soaking are all closely monitored. All cherry is floated in small buckets as a first step to check quality. After floating, the higher quality cherry is sorted again by hand to remove all damaged, underripe and overripe cherries. 
After sorting, cherry is pulped within 6 hours of delivery. The coffee is dry fermented for up to 12 hours and then soaked in clean water for 12 to 24 hours.
Parchment is then soaked for an additional 12 to 18 hours before being dried on raised beds for 2 to 3 weeks. Workers carefully inspect drying parchment for any damaged beans and rake parchment frequently to ensure even drying. 
Once dry, coffee is sent to Budeca, Burundi’s largest dry mill located in the capital city, Gitega. The coffee is milled and hand sorted by a team of hand-pickers who look closely at every single bean to ensure zero defects. It takes a team of two hand-pickers a full day to look over a single bag!
During milling season, 10% of the capital population works in the dry mill, which shows the paramount importance of coffee in the economy of a country in which 50% of th epopulation is unemployed.
So when you are buying a bag of coffee from Burundi, you are also supporting small local farmers and a whole chain of people who are striving to develop a better coffee culture.
For instance the Nemba station participates in a number of farmer outreach and support projects including a livestock rearing project and a range of Farmer Hub projects centered on strengthening cooperatives and improving yields. Farmers can also get organic fertilizer made from composted cherry pulp to help them rejuvenate their trees when replanting new seedlings.