Shyira / Rwanda - Single origin

 REGION: Rwanda, Nyamasheke District

ALTITUDE: 2000 MASL

VARIETAL: Bourbon

PROCESS: Washed

WASH STATION: Muraho Trading Co

TASTING: This Juicy Rwandan tastes like a pineapple upside down cake and a toffee apple had a sugar-filled love child.

Notes:  In Rwanda, our export partners are Raw Material and the Muraho Trading Co. This partnership helps affiliate co-operatives increase their quality of production, fetch a higher price for their coffee, and introduce themselves to new markets. Through this process a model has been developed that creates incentives which generate producer buy-in, all while maximising impact. Built-in 2017, Shyira Washing Station is a station situated at 2,000 masl, collecting cherries from neighbouring producers that live between 2,000 –2,400 masl.

This is the highest-grown coffee we know of in Rwanda, and it’s from a region where very few washing stations are located, making it somewhat unique. It also happens to be located in one of the most stunning areas in Rwanda. It has a river running through the base of the station making water access no issue.

Every Muraho washing station has its own washing station song. These have been created to instil a sense of pride and ownership in both full-time and casual workers.

Throughout the day groups of staff join together in song, dancing in the fermentation tanks, singing through five iterations of their song while stomping on the parchment.

The process takes about 20 minutes and all the while, the fermentation process is assisted with the agitation of the coffee during the fermentation stage. This process is quite an experience to partake in!

All cherry is hand-sorted before a pre-pulp float, underripe or damaged cherry is removed, along with any foreign objects. Cherry is then floated in pre-pulping tanks removing any floaters and later pulped. Next, coffee is fermented in dedicated concrete fermentation tanks for an average of 12 hours.

During this time, the fermented parchment is agitated several times through the day by way of ceremonial foot-stomping. This is to encourage lower-density parchment to float and to clean any residual mucilage off the parchment. Once the parchment is separated into grades, it is given a final post-wash rinse. At this point, coffee is then taken to a pre-drying area where the parchment is hand-sorted removing any insect-damaged, discoloured or chipped coffee.

Parchment is then laid out to dry where it is turned on a regular basis throughout the day.  After fermentation, coffee is released into a large serpentine grading channel. This process also separates parchment into different density grades.

During the washing process, parchment is continuously agitated to encourage lower-density parchment to float and to clean any residual mucilage off the parchment. Once the parchment is separated into grades, it is given a final post-wash rinse.

At this point, coffee is taken to a pre-drying area where the parchment is hand-sorted removing any insect-damaged, discoloured or chipped coffee. The parchment is laid out to dry and turned on a regular basis throughout the day for 30 days.

EXTRACTION RECIPE:
Dose: 21g in 
Yield: 45g out
Run time: 30 seconds (incl. 10s pre-infusion)