COFFEE

I’m not an addict. Well, maybe I do begin my mornings with a cup or two and am groggy and headachy if I don’t… but I KNOW I can stop if I want. We all believe that, right? :)

I blame it on college and Dan Brose. College— because (like most coffee lovers) that is where it all began. Coffee was the necessary stimuli to fuel the late night paper-writing and, of course, the social life of dating and discourse over books and class lectures and such. My drink of choice at that time: a white chocolate mocha frappucino.

I remained in the land of occasional drinking of foofy mochas and lattes with friends and over meetings with my coffee-loving high school/college gals (I think Aleah Smith won out with her 4-shot daily espresso drink!! No wonder that girl always has so much energy!). That is, until I came to Burundi. Here I met Dan Brose who enjoys a STRONG, black cup of coffee every morning. The combination of Seth and I living with the Broses… the smell of coffee waking me every morning… and having to head off to a day at World Relief where I was swamped with new people, a new culture, an overload of information… Let’s just say the morning cup of coffee became a no-brainer. And therefore, I blame Dan. On various levels.

Now, I can’t drink it black like Dan Brose. I don’t have the delicate taste for it like our coffee snob friend Brando. And I can’t seem to quit and go healthy like Seth and his daily HUGE cup of tea. For me, it is what it is. A daily cup or two of caffeine. Sometimes I splurge and enjoy some of my Starbucks stash that my friends sent out. Usually it’s coffee from Burundi.

We actually have the potential to grow great coffee here. Not yet, as quality control isn't yet established. I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, but I’m learning. I know that the climate and land here offer great resources for specialty coffees… one can see tons of coffee trees burdened with their red beans that are ready for the picking when traveling upcountry this time of year. Road-side coffee drying and washing stations... and men hauling enormous bags of beans are frequently seen. And I've heard of various buyers that have come out to scout out the potential of coffee here (and actually, a guy from Stumptown will be staying with us next week while he is here in Buj)… and other NGO’s are working to improve the coffee sector (which is now Burundi’s #2 export, after tea) to help fuel the economy.

And actually, World Relief may be looking into that as well. Nothing is set in stone. But the other week, I traveled with Ngaira (our country director) and Andre (our director of development programs) to the northern province of Ngozi to meet with leaders at a university that has a community-based agri-business program. With an organization like World Relief and living in a country like Burundi, there is always potential… there is always need, as you can imagine. So we are really at the very beginning phases of looking into this new project— partnering with a local university to help fuel the coffee business here in Burundi.