Mugano Lot 2 | Gitega Province

Gitega sits in the hills of central Burundi, and it has a habit of turning up on Cup of Excellence winners' lists. This lot comes from a women-led group of smallholder farmers growing Bourbon at some of the highest elevations in the country. They bring their cherries to the Mugano washing station.

Up here, coffee takes its time. The trees flower alongside the rest of the region, but the cherries ripen more slowly in the cooler air. That extra time on the branch lets the fruit build more complex sugars, and you can taste it in the cup.

The women behind this lot earn a premium for quality through JNP Coffee's Dushime program, paid directly to them. It goes back into their trees, their families, and the next harvest.

As a natural, the coffee dries inside the whole cherry, turning all that slow-built sweetness into deep, dark fruit. It's a generous cup, grown by women who've made room for themselves in coffee, one harvest at a time.

The story doesn't end here. Explore more in our Learning Hub:

Burundi: The quiet brightness at the heart of Africa

Natural process coffee: why some coffees taste like fruit

Women in coffee: The history, the gap, and the Burundi women closing it