Subscription – Medium (FREE SHIPPING) - MARCH 2025: RWANDA

With the Medium Plan you receive:

• A single-origin coffee each month in the following size: 1x1kg.
• We recommend buying your coffee whole bean in order to preserve it as fresh as possible.

The coffee is suitable for filter brews. Follow the instructions on our package for a close-to-perfect cup.

This month we take you to RWANDA

The Context 

In Rwanda, we work alongside Muraho Trading Co. This partnership helps affiliate co-operatives increase their quality of production, fetch a higher price for their coffee, and introduce them to new markets. This will be a continuous work in progress in the coming years, as we gain a greater understanding of the particular challenges Rwandan coffee producers face.

Through this process we can develop a model that creates incentives which generate producer buy-in, all the while maximising impact. We supply coffee from across Muraho’s washing stations, which are located in the Nyamasheke, Gakenke, and Nyabihu regions of Rwanda.

Vunga is a well-established small cooperative run by President Uwimana Daphrose. Her partnership with the export and financing capability of Muraho Trading Co was formed to help Vunga increase their quality, fetch a higher price for their coffee and to introduce it to new markets.

Vunga is a well-known washing station, though it is located in an area in Rwanda where very little coffee is produced, it has a reputation of producing extremely high-quality coffee. In 2012, Vunga placed 13th in the Rwanda Cup of Excellence and 4th in 2014.

Raw Material is paying a premium of $0.35 USD per kilo of milled green coffee to the Vunga cooperative in order to help fund infrastructure upgrades. This premium assisted the installation of a full serpentine for washing (previously lacking at the station), extended drying tables, and a depulper in 2017.

Vunga’s producers receive bonus second payments as well as health insurance through the Cooperative.

Region: Nyamasheke
District Country: Rwanda
Altitude: 1500-2000 MASL
Variety: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
Screen Size: 15+
Preparation: Euro Prep 0,20
Sorting: Laser sorted
Packing: Ecotact, 60kg

All cherry is hand-sorted before a pre-pulp fl oat, underripe or damaged cherry is removed, along with any foreign objects. Cherry is then fl oated in pre-pulping tanks removing any fl oaters and later pulped. Next, coff ee is fermented in dedicated concrete fermentation tanks for an average of 12 hours. During this time, the fermented parchment is agitated several times throughout the day.

This is to encourage lower density parchment to fl oat and to clean any residual mucilage off the parchment. After fermentation, coff ee is released into a large serpentine grading channel. This process also separates parchment into diff erent density grades. Once the parchment is separated into grades, it is given a fi nal post-wash rinse. At this point, coff ee is then taken to a pre-drying area where the parchment is hand-sorted removing any insect-damaged, discoloured or chipped coff ee. The parchment is laid out to dry and turned on a regular basis throughout the day for 30 days.

Our packaging is made of 100% recyclable plastic.