Coffee of the Month

Situated in the north-west of Bujumbura province, Mageyo Washing Station is the smallest of the thirteen mills that make up the Akawa Project, a collaboration between green suppliers and local farmers to build stable and fair supply chains in Burundi to ensure a secure and profitable future for coffee producers throughout the country.  

Don’t be fooled by Mageyo’s size, however. Under the expert eyes of mill manager Viateur Bizindavyi and agronomist Innocent Mpawenimana, this community has become synonymous with exceptional coffee that boasts vibrant, complex, and provoking palates. 

Mageyo sits upon Muyabara, a hill surrounded by nine higher hills on the Nyamuvogan and Muhunguzi rivers on which the community grows coffee alongside other crops such as maize, sweet potato, and banana, biproducts of which are used to create organic composts to be used in the sustainable propagation of coffee trees. 

The cultivation of this particular lot was women-led as part of the egalitarian mission of the Akawa Project to promote equality, empowerment, and sustainability in Burundi’s coffee communities. In an industry in which, despite making up over 70% of the workforce, women have a ‘systematically lower access resources’ and experience a ‘measurable gender gap in economic outcomes’ (ICO), supporting such endeavours is paramount and Garage Coffee is proud to play a part by purchasing this exemplary coffee.  

The Mageyo Women’s Lot is such a textbook example of a quintessential washed Burundi, you’d be convinced it wrote the damn thing and delivered a three-part follow-up lecture series to boot (now available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts). A wonderfully round and juicy stone-fruit infused mouthfeel with a dizzying sour cherry acidity, perfectly complimented by a lingering sweet and creamy finish.   

This is our second coffee from the Akawa Project, those of you who have done your Garage homework will know that our current Oast House Espresso offering also comes from a coffee community supported through their invaluable work.