Rwanda FW 15+ Sholi
About This Coffee
The Region
The head office and the coffee plantations of Sholi coffee washing station are located at Cyeza Sector, Muhanga District. The region is known for its diverse fruit farming and ancient rocks called Sebwugugu.
The changes in the neighbourhood after the establishment of Sholi cooperative have been miraculous. The process started with a large growth in local population - a lot of people moved away from high-risk zones to a settlement area. Sholi brought a lot of jobs to the community and with them came increased food security, better living conditions and reliable income to pay for health insurance and school fees. As part of their vision to invest in the local community, Sholi the co-operative also built a health centre, a water source and a village hall, all of which can be accessed by the whole community, including non-members.
Everyone at Sholi is treated equally regardless of age, gender, religion or disability. The co-operative offers health insurance and a loan system so members manage cash flow and pay for necessities like school fees.
Rwanda is poetically known as “the land of a thousand hills” and Muhanga district is no exception. With rolling mountains, rich soils and plentiful sunshine, the region boasts an exceptional terroir for arabica cultivation. This mountainous terrain makes mechanisation of harvesting impossible and the transportaion of coffee very challenging. Nevertheless coffee plays a huge role in the growing Rwandan economy and the increased demand for washed specialty arabicas from this small but beautiful country have allowed it to become one of the region’s most highly regarded producers.
The Process
This lot is fully washed, whereby ripe cherries are carefully selected, first by hand sorting then by floatation to remove under-developed cherries (floaters). The cherries are then depulped and wet-fermented for 15-18 hours, typically overnight, to break down the remaining mucilage. After fermentation, the wet parchment is washed by high pressured water and grading is done throughout long channels to separate coffee by density. During this grading stage, coffee beans pass through a series of gates that allow less dense, lower quality beans to flow through, while retaining the denser, higher quality beans for separate processing in top lots such as this.
The retained washed beans are moved from channels to pre-drying tables, where they are carefully sorted under shade for around 4 hours. Next, the beans are taken on raised drying tables numbered for around 14 days in warm days or 21 days in rainy days. The coffee is also sorted again for defects, any damaged beans and it is turned regularly by women (seasonal workers) and the latter are tasked to protect coffee from rain or the midday sun by using covers.
- Subregion Cyeza sector, Muhanga District, Southern Province
- Producer Type Washing Station
- Wet Mill Sholi
- Processing Washed
- Bag Types Grain Pro / Ecotact
- Plant Species Arabica
- Variety Bourbon
- Min Growing Altitude 1800m
- Max Growing Altitude 2000m
- Screen Size 15 Up
- Co-Op Abateraninkunga Ba Sholi
- On Sale No
- Top Lot No
- Price Per Kg £8.10
- Status Spot
- Coffee Grade RWA CA FW SC 15+
- CTRM Contract Number P8002225-1
- Origin Rwanda
- Warehouse Vollers Group Uk