Rwanda Shyira

The coffee from Rwanda's highest coffee farms is truly special! It could be because of the high altitudes - on average 1850 meters - where the farms are located, or because Shyira, where the coffee is delivered, is the country's smallest processing station. It could also be because the founding brothers Karthick and Gaudam Anbalagan are two extremely passionate coffee lovers who go to great lengths to bring out the sweet and light character of the coffee they buy. What we know for sure is that this wet-processed the coffee has an elegant style with a lively and outstanding acidity with a nice berry sweetness in the aftertaste!

MORE ABOUT SHYIRA

The Shyira washing station was built in 2017. It is located halfway from Kigali to the famous Virunga Mountains, which are also home to one of the few remaining groups of mountain gorillas, in the district of Nyabihu, in northern Rwanda. Shyira is the washiing station that processes the highest coffee varieties in Rwanda, at 1850 meters above sea level. The climatic conditions and soil make this washing station an ideal environment for processing and producing high quality coffee.

The owner of the washing station, Muraho Trading operates washing stations in other districts, but in the early 2020s wanted to expand their regional flavor profiles to other areas of Rwanda. The search was focused on an area that not only had huge potential for the production of high quality coffee, but where they could also generate a greater socio-economic impact through specialty coffee. With Shyira, it has been possible to have a positive influence in the area and to produce a truly unique style and taste of coffee that is different from any other coffee variety in Rwanda.

FROM CHERRY TO GREEN BEAN

Once the coffee cherries have been delivered to the washing station, they are visually inspected and sorted using water for the first time, using a bucket or a tank full of water, to remove so-called “floaters”, which are mostly unripe beans. This ensures that only ripe coffee cherries are processed. Then they go through the mechanical pulping machine, usually in the early afternoon. After being pulped, they are sorted by density into two or three categories, with each category going to a separate fermentation tank.

After being peeled, the coffee is dry-fermented for 12-24 hours. It is then washed and sorted again by gravity in the washing channels (the heavier beans sink). Later, the beans are soaked in tanks with clean water for a further 24-48 hours, known as a 'double soak'.

Then the coffee, will pass to shaded African beds, where usually women, remove defects by hand when the parchment is still wet, in this way defects are easier to detect. Once the defects have been removed, the parchment is transferred to the raised beds under the African sun for about two to three weeks. During this period, the parchment is constantly moved several times a day to ensure even drying.

Finally, when the coffee reaches between 11% moisture content, it will be stored in parchment, separated and labeled carefully. When the coffee is ready for export, the parchment is transported to Kigali for milling, sorting, packing and loading into containers.