Congo Organic Kivu Katanda

This coffee is from a washing station located in the Katanda territory on the north side of the great Lake Kivu. This area has had coffee planted for over 6 decades (mostly bourbon), but with the civil unrest of recent history, the coffee farms were left abandoned for some time. At 1500 meters plus, the altitude is great for growing coffee, lying in the foothills of one of the volcanos in the Albertine Rift Zone. Newfound peace in the region has seen farmers planting new coffee trees, and cooperatives such as this one have been set up to help build a much needed coffee infrastructure, as well as to streamline the process of exporting coffee out of the country. This particular washing station serves 700 farmers in the area. These farms are very small, most with 200 - 400 coffee trees on less than half a hectare of land, mostly planted in Bourbon and Typica types. The group who manage the wet mill offer agronomical assistance to the farmers, including soil regeneration, and distribution of coffee seedlings.