This specific lot comes from one producer, Elie Nzabakunda. He is a 44-year-old farmer from Baliza Cell in Ruli Sector, is a dedicated and thriving member of the Dukunde Kawa Musasa Cooperative. Living close to
the cooperative’s office, Elie has benefited significantly from its support, much like his fellow farmer Faustin.
His proximity to the cooperative has given him easy access to training sessions, advisory visits, and
resources, all of which have strengthened his coffee farming practices over the years.
With 803 coffee trees, Elie is also a site collector for the cooperative, earning extra income through
commissions on coffee collection. His dedication to quality and his role as a site collector has helped him
establish his farm as a model of success within the region. In addition, Elie was one of the farmers who
received a cow from the cooperative, further enhancing his livelihood through additional resources and
income streams. He brings his cherries to the Ruli washing station to be processed.
The level of care that Musasa Dukunde Kawa Ruli takes over the processing is impressive. Cherries are
hand-picked only when fully ripe and then pulped that same evening using a mechanical pulper that
divides the beans into three grades by weight. The facilities here include a machine that removes the
mucilage more efficiently, thus reducing the overall fermentation time.
After pulping, the coffee is fermented overnight (for around 12 hours) and then graded again using
flotation channels that sort the coffee by weight (the heaviest – or A1 – usually being the best). The wet
parchment is then soaked in water for between 18 and 24 hours to stabilise moisture content.
As at most washing stations in Rwanda, women do the majority of the hand sorting. This takes place in two
stages - on the covered pre-drying tables and on the drying tables. Washed beans are moved from the
wet fermentation tanks onto the pre-drying tables, where they are intensively sorted under shade for
around six hours. The idea is that greens (unripes) are still visible when the beans are damp, while the roofs
over the tables protect the beans from the direct sunlight.
Next, the beans are moved onto the washing
station’s extensive drying tables for around 25 days (depending on the weather), where they are sorted
again for defects, turned regularly, and protected from rain and the midday sun by covers, ensuring both
even drying and the removal of any damaged or ‘funny looking’ beans. After reaching 11% humidity, the
coffee is then stored in parchment in Ruli’s purpose-built warehouse prior to final dry-milling and hand
sorting at the Cooperative’s brand-new dry mill in Kigali. Each coffee that arrives is also cupped by
Musasa’s team of expert cuppers along with the Q-graders of their exporting partner, Rwashocco.
