Rwanda Shyira

About This Coffee

The coffee from Rwanda's highest-located coffee farms is truly something special! It may be due to the high altitudes - an average of 1850 meters - where the plantations are located, or that Shyira, where the coffee is submitted, is the country's smallest processing station. It may also be because the founding brothers Karthick and Gaudam Anbalagan are two incredibly passionate coffee lovers who do everything to highlight the sweet and light character of the coffee they buy. What we know for sure is that this wet-processed coffee has an elegant character with a fantastic, lively and fresh acidity with a fine 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 Nyabihu district, in northern Rwanda. Shyira is the station that processes the highest located coffee varieties in Rwanda, at 1850 meters above sea level. The climate 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, runs washing stations in other districts, but wanted to expand its regional flavor profiles to other areas of Rwanda in the early 2020s. The search focused on an area that not only had enormous 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 coffee style and flavor that differs from all other coffee varieties in Rwanda. FROM BERRY TO BEAN When the coffee cherries have been delivered to the washing station, they are visually inspected and sorted using gravity for the first time, using a bucket or a tank full of water, to remove so-called “floaters”, which are usually immature beans. In this way, it is ensured that only ripe coffee cherries are processed. Then they go through the mechanical peeling machine, usually early in the afternoon. After peeling, they are sorted by density into two or three categories, where each category goes to a separate fermentation tank. After peeling, the coffee is dry-fermented for 12-24 hours. After that, it is washed and sorted again using gravity in the washing channels (the heavier beans sink). Later, the beans are soaked in tanks with clean water for another 24-48 hours, so-called “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 carefully labeled. When the coffee is ready for export, the parchment is transported to Kigali for peeling, sorting, packing and loading into containers.