This coffee from southern Rwanda is a beautiful cup with fruity notes of nectarine providing a balancing acidity against a lovely brown sugar sweetness. A lovely cup for any time of the day!
Coffee in Rwanda
Cherry drying at Gatare washing station
Rwanda is blessed with ideal coffee growing conditions that include high altitude, regular rainfall, volcanic soils and good organic structure ... and an abundance of Bourbon. The vast majority of Rwandan coffee is produced by smallholders of which there are thought to be around half a million with parcels of land not much larger than one hectare per family. Coffee is grown in most parts of the country with particularly large concentrations along Lake Kivu and the southern province. Rwandan smallholders organise themselves into cooperatives and share the services of centralised wet mills - or washing stations as they are known locally. Flowering takes place between September and October and the harvest runs from March to July, with shipments starting in August through December.
Coffee from Gatare
Gatare washing station
Gatare is one of the oldest washing stations in the country, dating back to 2003. It has an excellent reputation having ben amongst the first stations to process very high quality coffee for export. Located in Nyamasheke district of the Western province, the station is surrounded by hills covered by coffee trees. Gatare has competed in the Cup of Excellence competition many times and always ended up in the high winning lots. The station has a very large capacity, operating a 3ton/hr McKinnon disc pulper, washing channels, dry fermentation tanks and soaking tanks. It has processed over 1000 tons of cherries this season.
Images and text provided by Falcon Specialty