Burundi is a small and beautifull landlocked country at the crossroads of East and Central Africa, straddling the crest of Nile-Congo watershed. Sandwiched between Rwanda, the demiocratic republic of Congo and Tanzania, Burundi has magnificent views over Lake Tanganyika which provides much of its western border.  This is a country dominated by hills and mountains, with considerable altitude variation .The lowest point in the country is 772 meters at the Lake Tanganyika, while the highest soars to 2670 meters above sea level at the tip of Mount Heha.

The first arabica coffee tree in Burundi was introduced by the Belgians in the early 1930s and has been growing in the country ever since.  Coffee cultivation is an entirely small holder based activity with over 800.000 families directly involved in coffee farming with a total acreage of 60.000 hectares in the whole country with about 25 millions of coffee tree.  Burundi coffee falls into mild arabica category grown in the world and it is known as among the best ones grown in the Eastern africa region because its quality is inherent to the hills and mountains where is cultivated at altitudes ranging from 1250 and 2000 meters above sea level.  Another thing to note is that each farmer is tendering abount 50 to 250 trees  Burundi coffee is of the arabica species though some robusta producrion also exists. Of the total production, arabica coffee represents 96 % , the reminder is robusta.  The most successfull variety grown to date is Bourbon and constitutes the majority on nearly all farms.

Burundi is a country dominated by hills and mountains with considerable alltitude variation where coffee terroirs lie The lowest point is 772 meters at the Lake Tanganyika while the highest soars to 2670 meters above sea level at the tip of Mount Heha.  The coffee plantings cover an area of 60.000 hectares on small scale.About 800000 households depends on coffee farming for their livelihood  Each farmer is tendering about 50-250 coffee trees Coffee constitutes the first agricultural ressource as well as the largest source of export revenues(more than 80% of the total export revenues)

Mixed farming ( coffee trees are intercropped with subsitence crops such as bananas, beans, etc) throughout the country.  Generally, flowering takes place in september which is usually considered as the the start of rainfall after summer period.  Harvert runs from february to july with a pin production in may to june When being harvested , delicate hands pick only the ripe red cherries for election.

OCIBU has two main laboratories. One is located in Bujumbura and the other in Gitega, the second city of the country with differents chains based in the state and private venture mills and in private mills  Each lab has the main role of supervising and controlling coffee quality from harvesting, processing, transportation, roasting, and delivery up to buyers.





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