Agriculture was a driving force in Rwanda’s recovery from the country’s horrific genocide in the 1990s, and coffee – particularly specialty coffee – has played a significant role in that regard. Working side-by-side, coffee cuppers and aid workers helped train and educate an entire generation of Rwandans who are now coffee business owners or occupy senior roles in export offices and quality labs across the country.
The coffee washing station is of critical importance in Rwanda. Nearly no large estates exist; instead, smallholders will sell cherry outright (the government sets a minimum price) to the closest washing station. Because of the high population density even out in the countryside, and the good price on the global market, turf wars between washing stations can emerge. Some will send trucks out to local farming communities to “poach” cherry from other stations.
Regardless, it’s the washing stations that get to control the quality of coffee cherry, starting with presorting and flotation, through pulping and drying and parchment sorting and storage. This particularly clean example of Rwandan coffee comes from the southwest of the country: Cyanika town in the Nyamagabe district. The Karambi washing station was established in 2003, and sources coffee from over 700 nearby farming families. Coffee processed at Karambi took 6th place in the 2015 Cup of Excellence.