Overview
Our natural processed Rwanda this year is another stunning selection from the beloved Fugi station <3. Over the past few years, coffees from Fugi have quickly become a favorite of ours in the Baho network and a yearly staple on our menu.
Located in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Fugi is nestled between the Nyungwe National Forest and the border of Burundi. The station was constructed in 2013, but it was purchased by Emmanuel in 2016. Since then, he’s dedicated Fugi to solely producing specialty grade coffee, and it was an integral part of the foundation upon which he launched the Baho Coffee operations. It’s the third smallest station in the Baho collection, purchasing cherries from approximately 950 smallholders in total.
Meaning youth in Kinyarwanda, Urubyiruko is a newer lot separation that began during the 2022 harvest, and it’s a project that we’re incredibly thrilled to be supporting again for the second time! The creation of this group is a direct investment towards the future of coffee in Rwanda, as it’s composed of farmers that are all under the age of 35 and new to coffee growing. Emmanuel’s goal is to inspire a younger generation to invest in the coffee sector and dedicate themselves to working in tandem with Baho Coffee.
Emmanuel shares: In Rwanda, we have a challenge with coffee being grown by adults, which could have a negative impact on coffee disappearing, which is why Baha are starting to encourage young people to get into coffee plantation where we intervene in helping them to get coffee seedlings, inputs such as organic and chemical fertilizers, shade trees distribution, good price and bonus payment, and we trained them on crop rotation where we encourage them to cultivate other crops friendly with coffee such fruits and crop with high nitrogen. The relationship is really good. The Youth can see what we are doing, changes we are creating and are excited about the future and what we can achieve together. We are also happy that the youth can understand our direction and vision. We are committed to keep building relationships with youth as the future of coffee plantations.
This year’s natural offering from Fugi Urubyiruko hits all of the marks - high flavor intensity, big body, lots of sweetness, and juicy acidity. Thanks to an added cherry fermentation step (more on that in the processing section), it’s showcasing a particularly dense, jammy, wine-like flavor profile. We’re tasting: mulled wine, wildberry poptart, cranberry, pomegranate, lime, spiced rum, date, coconut, dark brown sugar, sugarcane, black tea.
Relationship
This is our seventh consecutive year purchasing from Emmanuel Rusatira and his private exporting company, Baho Coffee.
After nearly 20 years of experience establishing and managing washing stations throughout Rwanda for a large export company, Emmanuel Rusatira and his family decided to branch out and start their own operations. Establishing Baho Coffee allowed him to freely focus his energy towards implementing his personal philosophies and pushing high quality protocols with his own privately owned stations. Emmanuel is impressively proactive with education and outreach. He works closely with producers year round - distributing seedlings, educating on proper growing and picking techniques, giving loans for infrastructure or quality of life investments, and generally being a positive force in the community and friend to all.
Historically, coffee from the 950 farmers delivering to Fugi would have been grouped into large, station-level lots. Thanks to the increased traceability and smaller lot separations that Emmanuel was able to establish the past few seasons, we’re thrilled to be able to publicly recognize the specific producers who grew the coffee that make up this offering. This is a first step in building a transparent and equitable relationship with groups of growers that we hope will deliver to Fugi for many years to come.
Duhuzamajyambere JMV
Hagabimana Etienne
Manirakiza Jean Claude
Nsengamahoro Felecien
Minani Jean Pierre
Niyonkuru Emmanuel
Hakizimana David
Maniraho Shinani
Mazimpaka Pascal
Biziyaremye Paul
Niyomugabo Oscar
Misigaro Laurent
Ntukabumwe Nicodem
Kampundu Olive
Uvuzeneza Alex
Processing
Coffee production in Rwanda works very similarly to most other countries in Africa - thousands of smallholder farmers deliver cherries to centralized processing stations. At these stations, the coffees are fully processed and dried on raised beds. Upon time for export, parchment is transported to the capital city of Kigali where it is dry milled, further sorted, and prepped for export.
When cherries arrive at the station, they’re intensively sorted to remove any visible defects or under/over ripe fruits. The cherries are then floated to remove the less dense, lower quality fruits. The highest quality cherries are collected in a sealed fermentation tank, where they’re left in shade for a total of 12 hours. The idea behind this step is to rapidly start the fermentation process and increase complexity via a short period in a low oxygen environment.
The following morning, coffee cherries are spread out onto raised beds to begin the drying process. This specific lot was dried in a parabolic drying structure that was built in 2020. Within this greenhouse, coffees are completely protected from rain and harsh, direct sunlight.
A focus on thin layers of cherry, coupled with frequent turning and use of shade nets, ensures that the flavors remain clean and free from over-fermentation or mold defects. When the moisture content reaches the target 10.5%, the drying phase is considered complete. The total drying time was 45 days.
Emmanuel often compares his drying methods to that of a low and slow style of cooking. Generally speaking, particularly with grilling meat or simmering a stew, cooking gently with a low heat for a long period of time will produce an end product with more cohesive, sweet, saturated flavors. He explains: “When you take meat and you put it on charcoal, after 20 min you have your meat ready. But in an oven, it would take 45 minutes. If you put it in hot ash, it may take two hours. When you taste these three meats, there's a difference in the taste. I have this kind of thinking that coffees that dry slowly, the taste and lifespan of this coffee may be longer and more delicious than the coffee that dries for 10-12 days in sun.”
Brewing
Our natural processed coffees from Rwanda generally extract quite easily and quickly. Because of this, you’ll want to use a relatively coarse grind size for brewing. This will help keep the coffee tasting bright, clean, and transparent. In the ideal brew, you’ll find a balance of tart, jammy fruit flavors mixed with a rich, dessert-like sweetness.
If your coffee tastes thin, tart, and lacking sweetness - like lemon or under ripe plum - try grinding finer.
If your coffee tastes cloying, intense, and bitter - like cacao or over steeped black tea -try grinding coarser.
