Rwanda – Cyesha Washed

Description

Rwanda

Rwanda’s coffee production history dates back to the early 1900s. The Belgian colonial empire forced farmers to plant coffee trees, but Rwandan farmers did not have the proper infrastructure. As a result quality was very poor and exports were limited. Eventually, after the repairs and relief efforts from the genocide that rocked the country, Rwandan farmers were able to focus on producing higher quality coffee as trade barriers and restrictions were lifted. Internationally funded programs such as PEARL trained young Rwandans in the art of coffee cultivation, and quality has skyrocketed since.

About the Farm

This lot comes to us from Muraho Trading Company’s Cyesha Coffee Washing Station in Nyamasheke, Rwanda. Muraho was founded by two brothers, Karthick & Gaudam Anbalagan, who are driven to showcase to the world what Rwanda specialty coffee is all about. Cyesha is their newest washing station, acquired in December 2021. Coffee from Cyesha is extra special because of the volcanic soil and high altitude, up to 1800 meters above sea level, of the farm. The washing station is also near one of the majestic African Great Lakes, Lake Kivu. The wind flow from the lake through the surrounding hills is ideal for drying coffees. Cyesha upholds the highest of standards to achieve the best quality specialty coffee possible. Only red ripe cherries are received at the station. The cherries are all checked upon arrival, then resorted on sorting tables and then passed through an intensive floating quality process. After floating is done then the cherries are pulped and dry fermented for 12 hours. After that the coffee is washed, graded and soaked. Finally the coffee is moved to a pre drying area to be hand sorted until it is moved to the drying tables.