Rwanda - Karambi

Sitting on the shores of Lake Kivu, Karambi station is surrounded by hills full of bourbon - with high altitude, fertile soil and favourable rainfall there is everything you need to produce the best coffees!

 Producer: Karambi Washing Station

Region: Nyamasheke, Western Province

Process: Washed

Varietal:  Red Bourbon

This selection comes from a group working with Rwanda Trading Company (RTC). With a transparent supply chain RTC connect farmers with coffee roasters, providing them with training support and finance.

Our tasting notes:

Black Cherry, brown sugar and spice. Sweet and buttery, soft and balanced with a wine-like character typical of Rwandan coffee. 

The vast majority of Rwandan coffee is produced by smallholders, there are thought to be around half a million. Many of these farmers have parcels of land that are often not much larger than a hectare. While coffee is grown in most parts of the country, there are particularly large concentrations along Lake Kivu and in the southern province. 

Rwandan smallholders organise themselves into co-operatives and share the services of centralised wet-mills, or washing stations as they are known locally. 

Established in 2016 Karambi washing station sits alongside the shores of Lake Kivu. Growing conditions in the surrounding hills here are excellent: High altitude, great soil, favourable rainfall—everything you need to produce the best coffees!

Our selection is from a group of small holders farming the land surrounding Karambi. With an average farm size of around 4 hectares these growers are all based within 3 kilometres of the station, each farmer has around 8000 coffee trees.

Karambi was sourced through the Rwanda Trading Company (RTC) who own and operate several mills in this part of the country. With a transparent supply chain RTC help connect farmers with coffee roasters, providing them with training support and finance.

Karambi was established in 2016 and RTC took ownership the following year. There are four full time staff with an additional sixty during the harvest, of whom 90% are women. In total 1500 farmers contribute coffee cherry to the station, all benefiting from RTC’s training and support program.