Kirasa washing station was originally a government run mill created in 1992. In 2012 Succam Exports purchased Kirasa with the aim of producing higher quality washed coffee and the rest is history. The location of Kirasa is breathtaking, surrounded by high climbing hills and right next to the Kirasa River. Many of the farmers in the region intercrop their plots with banana trees, creating not only shade for coffee trees but also a much needed food source for their family. Mill manager Emile Ndikumasabo, alongside agronomist Anne-Marie have been producing natural fertilizer from discarded coffee pulp. The pulp is placed in a shallow pit in the ground where its covered up with soil and allowed to naturally ferment. The end result is used to fertilize the coffee seedlings in their nursery. Once the seedlings grow they are then handed out to farmers to renovate their coffee gardens. Traditionally coffee produced at Kirasa was only washed, but this year Emile and his team implemented natural process. Special care is taken with sorting and drying to produce a clean and extraordinarily sweet cup. The naturals ooze peach, blackcurrant, lime, lychee, elderflower and hibiscus, with the washed lots cupping with loads of red apple, plum, carob, black tea and honey.

The Kirasa mill is one of 13 mills that form the Akawa project. A joint venture between SUCCAM and Supremo, the Akawa project was created to help producers escape the cycle of poverty in a sustainable and equitable way. Producers, striving for fairer remunerations and better living conditions, demanded a path towards prosperity. As such the project’s working directives are based around UTZ certification standards, focusing on good agricultural practices, environmental responsibility and social equity as the central tenets of success for project members.

Latitude, Longitude: -3.5977, 29.37612
Altitude: 1100 masl
Coffee Variety: Arabica – Red Bourbon
Soil Type: Humus-Volcanic Soil
Average Rainfall: 1320 mm
Average Temperature: 19 °C
Processing capacity: 110 MT of green coffee
Drying Beds: 230
Seedlings in nursery: 6000 (Aug 2018)
Distance to washing station: 41 km to Bujumbura dry mill
Washing station Manager: Emile Ndikumasabo
Agronomist: Anne-Marie Niyakire