Rwanda Humure Abishyizehamwe

Notes of Cactus Pear, Cranberry, Sugarplum

Nestled in Rwanda's Eastern province, Humure stands tall as the highest hill in the region and is the largest station within the Baho network. This community lot is processed using a 72-hour low oxygen whole cherry fermentation and yields a coffee with vibrant fruit notes and a deliciously sweet taste. The hard work and commitment put into this coffee is evident in its rich and intricate taste. Expect a sweet and fruit-forward experience from this top-notch station.

Coffee Details

• Origin: Remera Sector, Gatsibo District, Eastern Province
• Producer: 7 smallholders within the Abishyizehamwe Hill group
• Processing Station: Humure
• Variety: Red Bourbon
• Process:  72-hour low oxygen whole cherry fermentation 
  
• Elevation: 1,600-19,00 meters

Farm to Shore: “The Story Behind the Cup”

Every exceptional coffee has a unique story to celebrate, from bean to cup. Here's a closer look at what makes this coffee from our amazing partners Sundog and the Baho network so standout:

• Humure: Named after the highest hill, this Eastern Province location is the largest station in the Baho family. It collects cherry from 1,500 smallholder farmers and produces 1,300 60kg bags of green coffee annually. Emmanuel Rusatira took over in 2018 season and preaches both high quality and high volumes at Humure, thanks to the combination of flatter lands and an established infrastructure of shade trees. Baho is investing a lot of energy into educating surrounding farmers on coffee farming techniques and promoting biodiversity.

• Abishyizehamwe: "Abishyizehamwe" means "people that came together" in Kinyarwanda, fitting for a group of passionate growers that prioritize quality and sustainable practices. We're excited to partner with a forward-thinking and motivated collective. This is the first step in building a transparent and equitable partnership with groups of farmers that we hope to deliver to Humure for many years to come.

• Contributing Farmers: Fidel MANIGABA, Claver NTAMBARA, Celestin UWIZEYIMANA, SYLIVER NSEKUYE, Dorothe AKIMANA, Didacienne NYIRAMAKUBA, and Eperance MUKAMPARANYI.

• Additional Payments: Rwanda's National Agricultural Export Board (NAEB) sets a yearly cherry price to discourage predatory buying and increase farmer wages. This has undoubtedly increased wages for the majority of farmers across the country, but it hinders some station owners by also creating a price ceiling in an attempt to establish market parity. To ensure more money into the hands of farmers, Baho has adopted a second payment system. Baho's second payment system provides additional compensation for farmers and helps maintain consistent payments. Increasing traceability and exploring new methods of dispersing payments are key to supporting Rwandese farmers. Baho is also exploring projects to allocate money towards in future seasons.
  

• Low Oxygen Fermentation: Emmanuel uses unique whole cherry fermentation techniques to produce high-quality coffee with intense and complex flavors. This one-of-a-kind process involves sorting only the ripest cherries and discarding defects, floating the cherries in water to remove less dense ones, and tightly packing the top-quality cherries in sealed tanks to ferment for 72 hours. The goal here is to create a unique environment in which the cherries have very limited interaction with oxygen, but the environment is not 100% free of oxygen during the entire process.  As fermentation takes place, carbon dioxide is released and progressively pushes oxygen out of the plastic tanks.  The result is an anaerobic natural processing that creates a low oxygen environment, enhancing the sweetness and fruitiness of the coffee. The cherries are then slowly dried on raised beds for 38 days using special techniques to further develop the flavors and create a longer-lasting and more delicious coffee. This process is compared to a low and slow style of cooking, resulting in a cohesive and flavorful end product.

• The Potato Defect: This defect is common in many African coffees. It's known as "potato defect" because of its smell and taste. First off - surprise, it actually has nothing to do with the root vegetable!  The cause is still a mystery, but research and sorting methods have minimized its occurrence. Though we may never be able to confirm that each lot is completely free of the defect, meticulous sorting and processing has certainly minimized the frequency so that it is very rare. Baho Coffee, in particular, implements multiple rounds of hand sorting at the cherry stage, during the drying period, and immediately prior to export (coupled with additional use of an optical color sorting machine).  The working theory is that if you can remove nearly 100% of all visible defects, then you will have removed nearly 100% of all instances of the potato defect as well. Baho Coffee uses multiple sorting techniques to remove the defect before export.