Ngozi

In 2019, seven women coffee farmers in Burundi's Ngozi Province pooled their savings to build the country's first washing station designed, built, and owned by women. Through their investment group, Turihamwe Turashobora, they did more than construct a wet mill. They took control of their coffee's quality and their place in the supply chain.

Today, roughly 600 farmers contribute to this coffee, about one-third of them women, most tending small plots of just 25 to 30 trees. A scale closer to a garden than a farm, where careful pruning and daily attention make all the difference, work that is most often carried out by women.

In Burundi, cultural norms shift slowly. Women still face barriers to property ownership and equal access to education, making what these farmers accomplished all the more remarkable. With support from JNP Coffee and the International Women's Coffee Alliance, they doubled their production in just two years and are working toward growing from five micro-lots to 1,200 bags annually.

Ngozi is one of the original coffees included in JNP's Dushime Premium Program, where dushime means "let's be thankful" in Kirundi. Since 2012, JNP has provided farmers a second payment at the end of each harvest season. By 2023, they had distributed over $500,000 through this initiative, a model so impactful that in 2024 the Burundian government began officially implementing a second payment to farmers nationwide.

That spirit of community extends beyond the farm. When a West Coast coffee shop organized a fundraiser around this coffee and raised $5,000, JNP passed every dollar directly to the Turihamwe group. The women chose to invest in a soap-making machine, creating a product that supports both their community's hygiene and their household income. Together, indeed.

The result of their hard work and ownership is a bright, clean, and beautifully balanced cup with notes of white grape, lemon-lime, apple, and a hint of vanilla. Coffee that holds a value far beyond what's in the bag.