The remotest of the remote! That's often where you find the prize.

In the hills of Muyinga Province, the farmers of Hafi coffee would face more than a day's journey if they tried to deliver their freshly harvested coffees to the nearest wet mill. That's why, until this year, all Hafi coffees were naturally processed.

It was even difficult for our importer to visit them as it's a six-hour journey from Bujumbura if the roads aren't washed out. They did visit though and what they found was that these farmers in their remoteness had become masters of the natural process. They had developed a 24- and 48-hour anaerobic process for closing the coffee cherries in raised beds. This controlled fermentation adds a jamminess to the coffee as well as other wonderfully complex multi-layered flavors. Hafi is named for the farmers' desire to have a washing station nearby. Hafi means "near" in Kirundi.