NOTES: BEAUTIFUL JUICY BLACKBERRY COULIS, SWEET SYRUPY TART MOUTHFEEL, SUBTLE FLORAL AROMA AND COCOA NIB FINISH.

Mushonyi washing station is situated just one kilometer away from the shores of Lake Kivu. The 1,200 growers that deliver cherry to this station live and farm on the hills surrounding Mushonyi. In these hills, the altitude can vary from a low of 1,600 meters above sea level to a high of 1,950 meters above sea level. Farmers, on average, cultivate only about 300 coffee trees on their small plots. Many also intercrop bananas, eucalyptus and cassava to generate additional income.

Mushonyi was originally built by the army. At the time, the army was anticipating high volumes of cherry, and they built to size. The station has eight fermentation tanks, a standard washing channel and cherry sorting shed for additional sorting before cherry is de-pulped. Rwacof maintains this infrastructure in pristine condition, even in years when the washing station’s capacity exceeds the volume of cherry delivered.

Coffee was introduced to the country by German colonists in 1904. However, commercial production only really ramped up in the 1930s, under Belgian rule. The Belgian Colonial government focused on covering as much area under coffee as possible, creating a ‘high production-low quality’ trap for many producers in the country at the time. The country, for many years, had a reputation as producer of very low-quality coffee, and during the 1980’s economic crisis and the subsequent political turmoil following the 1994 genocide, coffee production was almost entirely levelled.