In 2017, I had the pleasure to visit several coffee growers around the world. In August I traveled to Tanzania and visited one of the farms we get coffee from in Africa, the Burka Coffee Estate near Arusha, Tanzania.
Burka Coffee Estate was established in 1899 by German settlers of Tanganyika and the first coffee was planted in 1918. At the end of the WWI, the Estate was declared “Enemy Property” and fell under the British Protectorate. In 1929, a group of Swiss investors purchased the farm. The farm expanded in 1990 when Burka purchased the neighboring farm, Selian Coffee Estate. The farm has grown smaller in size since 1990 as the city of Arusha has grown. They currently manage 342 Hectares of arabica coffee.
The name Burka derives from the springs which are located on the farm and provide water for irrigation as well as the surrounding communities.
Located on the fertile slopes of Mount Meru, just a short drive from majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, the estate produces several hundred tonnes annually of highest quality mild Arabica Coffee.
Caring for their workers is a big part of why we work with Burka Estates
The Burka community consist of the villages that have been constructed by the company for the welfare of the employees. Each village is a permanent establishment, designed to support the staff and their families by providing free irrigation, gardens, pension lands, onsite schooling and sports facilities, and 24 hours medical services. Further, the villages are equipped with houses of worship to accommodate the large and diverse ethnic and religious mosaic that comprises the Burka workforce.
So what brought me to Tanzania?
My brother-in-law, Dale Burke, is the Founder and Director of a Southern California based ministry, Leverage Leadership. He travels all over the world teaching leadership principals built around essential leadership strategies he has developed in several of his books he has authored on leadership. This program was designed around his book How to Lead and Still Have a Life.
Dale invited several people including myself to come along on this trip to Arusha, Tanzania in 2017. It just so happened that Burka Coffee Estate is located in Arusha. So I accepted the invite and called one of my US importers who works with Burka Coffee Estate to set up the day-trip tour for us.
Our Tour
Our Tour was guided by Burka’s Quality Control and Exports Manager, Edwin Agasso. Edwin hiked us around the coffee estate and explained the process from seedlings, to planting, to harvest, to various processing methods.
Here I am at one of the many coffee seedling areas with plants that will become producers in a few years
