Burundi | Masha Station

Masha Washing Station has been processing coffee cherries since 1989, standing on the sub-hill it is named for in Gihororo, in the Kayanza province of northern Burundi. The sub-hill is better known for its cattle than for its coffee — masha comes from the Kirundi word amasho, herds of cattle, and herders in this part of Burundi still greet one another with gira amasho, owner of cows. 1,128 farmers deliver cherry to Masha. The average one tends 200 to 250 Red Bourbon trees at 1,672 meters, usually in the yard behind the house, intercropped with the food and the cash crops that support the family, and the entire harvest is selectively handpicked by that family between March and July. Cherry is floated the moment it arrives, hand sorted a second time for anything damaged or under- or overripe, and kept separated by station, by day, and by quality all the way through the dry mill in Gitega, where two hand-pickers will spend a full day looking over a single bag. Greenco manages Masha and twelve other washing stations in Kayanza, buys 93% of its cherry directly from farmers, raises seedlings from ISABU and sells them back to farmers at or below cost, and returns organic fertilizer made from composted coffee pulp. Every station runs on solar and treats its wastewater in ponds before it rejoins the river. Cherry ganache, cab franc, and gala apple. Dark sweetness underneath, red fruit and a little fine grip on top, and a clean apple-skin finish. Burundi has spent a long time overlooked next to its East African neighbors. We do not expect that to last.