Clean and crisp, with notes of sweet lemon, green apple and cranberry.
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
54°19'46.3"N
2°46'21.6"W
The Vunga Cooperative was established in 2009 and consists of 260 farmer families who contribute cherry to the Vunga washing station. Located in the north-west of Rwanda, close to the border with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the washing station is tiny, and is hidden between steep hills and thousands of plantain and banana trees.
It is supplied by water from a natural source in the nearby Virunga National Park, home to some of the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas. Very little coffee is produced in this region, but the little that is has a reputation for being of exceptional quality.
In 2012 coffee from Vunga placed 13th in the Rwanda Cup of Excellence competition, and 4th in 2014. Despite this, the cooperative was severely lacking in infrastructure when they partnered up with Muraho Trading Company (MTC) and Raw Material in 2017.
Last year Raw Material paid a premium of $0.35 USD per kilo of milled green coffee to the Vunga cooperative in order to help fund some of the necessary upgrades, totalling 2 million Rwandan Francs (US$2,400 USD). The cooperative posted their highest ever profits by selling coffee through MTC and Raw Material, and reinvested a total of 6 million Francs ($7,200USD) towards station upgrades. MTC financed a further 6 million Francs in order to complete this work. This money has allowed the cooperative to increase their dry storage capacity, build new washing serpentines, double the number of drying tables, and to purchase new fermentation tanks.
The coffee itself is hand-picked at peak ripeness, and is delivered to the washing station where it is hand-sorted and floated to separate out unripe and defective beans. It is then pulped and fermented for an average of 6 hours before being washed in the newly constructed serpentines. It is then laid out to dry on raised beds for a minimum of 35 days.
The resulting cup reminds us of why well fell in love with Rwandan coffee in the first place. It is clean and crisp, with notes of sweet lemon, green apple and cranberry.
Muraho Trading Company is the brainchild of Gaudam and Karthick Anbalagan, two Kiwi brothers who were raised to call Rwanda home. They are motivated by showing the world not only the very best that Rwandan speciality coffee has to offer, but also the people and the country that they feel have given them so much.
