Rwanda | Shyira

Background

In Rwanda, Raw Material work alongside Muraho Trading Co. This partnership helps washing stations and 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 a greater understanding is gained of the particular challenges Rwandan coffee producers face.

Through this process a model is developed that creates incentives that generate producer buy-in, all the while maximising impact.

Every Muraho washing station has its own washing station song. These have been created to instil a sense of pride and ownership to 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.

Built in 2017, Shyira (pronounced Sheer-rah) is a washing station situated at 2000 MASL, collecting cherry from neighbouring producers that live between 2000 - 2400 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.

All cherry is hand-sorted before a pre-pulp float, underripe or damaged cherry is removed, along with any foreign objects. Next, cherry is floated in pre-pulping tanks removing any floaters and then pulped. Coffee is later fermented in dedicated concrete fermentation tanks for an average of 8 hours. During this time the ferment parchment is agitated several times throughout the day by way of ceremonial foot-stomping.

Natural Process

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. Once the cherry is sorted and cleaned, it is ready to be dried. The cherries are laid out evenly across raised beds, providing consistent airflow, and height away to prevent moisture and animals coming into contact with the cherry.

The cherry is dried for 30 days, turned constantly when the sun is high and covered during the night. Once the cherry has dried, the now dried outer fruit is removed, and the coffee beans are ready to be organised for packing.