Description
The Kirorero washing station serves about 2012 smallholder producers in the areas of Boneza and Musasa, about 800 of whom are women farmers. It is run by Coopérative pour la Promotion des Activités Café or COOPAC. This washing station is remote, only accessible by boat after an hour-and-a-half drive down the lake. Tucked in the steep walls of the Gasuma valley right at lake level, Kirorero receives coffee from 1511 farmers. Some coffee arrives by boat and the rest on foot or bicycle, since they do not have direct access via road. This of course means that all processed coffee must be consolidated and make the journey up the lake by boat to Nyamwenda CWS where it’s trucked out to the main access point.
Remote but beautiful, Kirorero is a great example of COOPACs mission to collaborate with farmers to enhance their quality of life and well-being. The growers are organized into two first-tier cooperatives: KOTWIBAKABO and COPROCUCAMU.
COOPAC is a Fair Trade–certified cooperative located near Lake Kivu on the steep slopes of volcanic mountains. The organization was founded by Emmanuel Rwakagara, who is the president of COOPAC as well as the owner of the Gishamwana Island coffee estate. COOPAC began with 110 farmers in April 2001 and currently has 8,000 members contributing coffee from Ack, Ubuzima, Tuzamurane, Kopabm, Abakundakurima, and Abanyamurava. With 6 washing stations along the northern landscape of Lake Kivu, COOPAC exports 150 containers of Fair Trade-certified coffee annually.
COOPAC is committed to environmental and social sustainability in addition to producing high-quality coffee. Waste by-products from processing are used as fertilizer rather than discarded into the lake, and shade trees are distributed to farmers to prevent soil erosion. COOPAC has assisted in the construction of a school, healthcare clinics, and roads and bridges in the community. The cooperative also has a program to distribute cows and goats to the most productive farmers and provides farmers with an agricultural advisor to teach the latest production methods.
Tasting Notes:
A very cool Rwanda coffee. Clean, rich and chocolaty, medium to full bodied with just a bit higher than average acidity; more buzzy than citric. A juicer body with hints of citric and peach-like fruit balancing with a lovely chocolaty undertone, an accent of spice that lingers in the aftertaste that pulls it all together. A way cool cup. Medium to dark roast preferred to build those nice chocolate tones.
Roasting Notes:
Good from light to dark, super light can pull a little undeveloped tone (stopping right at first crack) but was still quite tasty with the stronger acidity, soft fruit and very sweet cup profile. Medium roasts were our favorite, smooth, semi-exotic and very clean tasting. Works well dark, richer and full of spicy semi-sweet darker tones. Medium to low chaff, even roasting, can darken up a bit quickly in the roaster so make sure you see the expansion in size if shooting for a lighter roast point.
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