Name: Gasharu

Producer:Valentin Kimenyi

Origin:

Varietal: Bourbon

Altitude: 1600-2100 metres above sea level

Process: Anaerobic Natural

Flavours: Mango, Orange, Chocolate

Importer: Covoya




Where is it from?

In Rwanda, coffee has brought hope for a better future since the dark days of the Civil War that shook the country back in 1994. Coffee has been used as a vehicle for positive change in the years that have followed, and the country is now rightly heralded as a top producer of fine speciality coffee.

Coffee was introduced to Rwanda in 1903 by German missionaries. As a cash crop, it received government backing but the focus was very much on quantity rather than quality. However, the impact of the world coffee crisis in the late 1990s, when prices fell for several years below the cost of production, caused many Rwandan coffee farmers to rethink their position. Working hand in hand with the Rwandan Coffee Board (OCIR Café), international NGOs such as USAID, the Gates Foundation, and other coffee-focused organisations, a speciality coffee sector was created in the early 2000s.

Rwanda is blessed with ideal coffee growing conditions that include high altitude, regular rainfall, volcanic soils with 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 often not much larger than just one hectare per family.

Coffee is grown in most parts of the country, with particularly large concentrations along Lake Kivu and in 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

This anaerobic natural process lot is from Gasharu washing station Wimana on the shores of Lake Kivu, Nyamasheke-Gatare district, Western Rwanda. Gasharu work with 1,075 smallholder farmers in the region, which is just a stone's throw from Nyangwe Forest National Park, one of the largest and best preserved mountain rainforests in central Africa, home to 25% of Africa's primate species (excluding humans!).

Gasharu coffee is managed by Valentin Kamenyi. Growing up in rural Rwanda in the 1990s, coffee had a mythical quality to it. "I was told coffee beans were sold abroad to make bullets. This was intriguing to me as I always imagined bullets to be magical, small and yet so noisy and powerful,” he recalls. Of course these child hood tales are now a thing of the past, yet coffee still carries special significance to him as the heart of his community. 

The Procees

Ripe cherries are carefully selected - first by hand and then by floatation. The cherries are then fermented in an oxygen-deprived environment for 72 hours, then dried in the sun on raised African beds for 30-40 days depending on the weather. During this period the coffee is sorted by hand to remove any physcial defects and is regularly turned to ensure even drying and prevent over fermentation or mould formation. The coffee is covered during rain or midday sun to protect it from damage.

Every day quality controller tests the relative humidity until a value of 12% is reached, after which the coffee is bagged and stored in a cool, dry warehouse to rest pending secondary processing (hulling, grading, sorting etc.)

Roast

Brew

Filter & Espresso