Burundi is a small and beautiful landlocked country at the crossroads of East and Central Africa, straddling the crest of Nile-Congo water- shed. Sandwiched between Rwanda, the democratic republic of Congo and Tanzania, Burundi has magnificent views over Lake Tan- ganyika which comprises much of its western border.

This is a country dominated by hills and mountains, with consider- able altitude variation. The lowest point in the country is 772 meters at the Lake Tanganyika, while the highest soars to 2670 meters above sea level at the tip of Mount Heha.

The first arabica coffee tree in Burundi was introduced by the Bel- gians in the early 1930’s and has been growing in the country ever since. Coffee cultivation is an entirely small holder-based activity with over 800 families directly involved in coffee farming with a total acre- age of 60 hectares in the whole country with about 25 million coffee trees, each farmer tendering about 50 to 250 trees
Burundi coffee is of the arabica species, the most successful variety grown to date is Bourbon and constitutes the majority on nearly all farms.