Ngororero - Rwanda - Washed - Filter
A wonderful reminder of how good washed Rwandan coffee can be! Honey-sweet with stone fruits, floral notes and refined acidity. Expect notes of honey, apricot, & plum.
For years the coffee from Ngororero washing station has been renowned for its superb quality. Most notably being crowned 'Best of the Best' and 'Coffee Lovers Choice' at the 2018 Ernesto Illy International Coffee Awards. This success is in no small part due to RWACOF's Farmer Development Program, which invests heavily in farmer training, yield improvements, quality improvement projects, environmental sustainability and other ways to increase both the livelihoods of farmers and the quality of coffee at Ngororero.
Info
Washing Station
1,405 growers working with RWACOF deliver cherry to the Ngororero wasing station to be processed.
Region
The coffee is grown in the Ngororero district in Rwanda’s Western Province.
Impact
RWACOF’s Farmer Development Program invests heavily in agricultural training, quality improvement projects, and environmental sustainability initiatives to improve the livelihoods of farmers and the sustainability and quality of coffee at Ngororero.
Elevation
The region is host to high elevations between 1600-200 masl on iron rich, clay soils.
Variety
French missionaries introduced Bourbon from Yemen to Bourbon Island (now La Réunion) in the early 1700s.
Process
After strict sorting and flotation, cherry is pulped to remove 80% of the mucillage. The coffee ferments for 10 hours before being sun dried on raised beds. Parchment is regularly turned, sorted and sifted to ensure even drying.
Welfare
"RWACOF have many projects that are designed to support farmers’ overall livelihoods and the welfare of the entire coffee producing community."
Their focus is on gender equality and currently support several women’s cooperatives by helping them access land, seedlings, other agricultural support and also offer trainings on financial literacy.
The Farmer Hub program have built retail shops that buy other crops from farmers and sell them to families and schools at fair prices. These retail shops help promote income diversification by creating a market for other crops and also supply nutritious food at accessible prices. The Farmer Hub program also offers loans to farmers as part of the farm management program.
Sustainibilty
"In collaboration with Trade in Space, RWACOF are currently mapping and collecting data on deforestation in coffee production."
RWACOF have also worked with partners to help install solar panels at 2 washing stations that are off the electrical grid. Their dry mill has a 50 kilowatt-per-hour solar panel on the roof and they've mapped carbon emissions in their coffee supply chain with the goal to reduce their emissions by half. Currently they are facilitating a transition from inorganic to organic fertilizer and are improving waste water management at the wet mills.
They've also developed a new soil health initiative that uses soil analysis data that they've collected to identify farms where soil is too acidic. Lime, along with education about application, is distributed to these farmers to help improve soil quality. Additionally, their seedling nurseries provide up to 4 million seedlings per year to help farmers renovate their rootstock.
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