A bright and light coffee. It has a background of white flowers, and in the foreground a ripe, juicy fruit: nectarine and rhubarb, with a touch of bergamot that gives the whole thing a citrusy, aromatic twist. The acidity is soft, round, well integrated into a light body. A clean and expressive washed coffee, the kind you drink with incredible ease.
HISTORY
Kilimbi is one of the first two washing stations to receive approval from NAEB to produce natural and honey processed coffee in Rwanda. Kilimbi's altitude is ideal for the production of exceptional washed, honey and natural coffees. The drying beds stretch across a large open plain, where airflow and sunlight have maximum exposure to the coffee as it dries. Built in 2016, this washing station is the birthplace of Muraho Trading Company, being their first washing station.
A peculiarity of Kilimbi is that it is only accessible by boat, with farmers crossing Lake Kivu to deliver their farms' harvests. Its estimated annual production is approximately 33,300 kg of milled green coffee, processed each harvest into volumes of natural, washed and honey coffees.
Muraho Trading Co. helps affiliated cooperatives improve the quality of their production, fetch a higher price for their coffee and access new markets. This will be an ongoing effort over the coming years, as a greater understanding is gained of the particular challenges faced by coffee producers in Rwanda.
Through this process, a model is developed that creates incentives to generate producer buy-in, while maximising impact.
VARIETY AND PROCESS
All cherries are hand-sorted before a pre-pulping float, removing any underripe or damaged ones, along with any foreign objects. The cherries are then floated in pre-pulping tanks to remove any floaters and subsequently pulped. The coffee is then fermented in fermentation tanks for an average of 12 hours. During this time, the fermented parchment is agitated several times throughout the day through a ceremonial foot-stomping ritual.
After fermentation, the coffee is released into a large grading channel. During the washing process, the parchment is continuously agitated to encourage lower-density parchment to float and to clean any residual mucilage. Once the parchment is separated into grades, a final post-wash rinse is carried out. At this point, the coffee is taken to a pre-drying area where the parchment is hand-sorted, removing any insect-damaged, discoloured or chipped beans. The parchment is laid out to dry and turned regularly throughout the day for 30 days.
The varietal of this coffee is Red Bourbon. Bourbon is an ancient variety, originating from the island of Bourbon (present-day Réunion) and derived from arabica coffee plants that arrived from Yemen in the 18th century. Red Bourbon is a specific sub-variety characterised by producing red cherries when ripe. It has been widely cultivated in Rwanda, where the climate and volcanic soils maximise its potential. It represents a standard of quality and tradition in the region.
RECIPE
For filter:
We use 18 grams of ground coffee and 290 grams of water at 93°C, in a total time of 2'30". We make three pours:
Pouring 50g of water in 30"
Pouring up to 185 gr of water in 1'10-1'30"
Pouring up to 290 gr of water up to 2'30"
EXPERIMENTATION VARIABLES
Rest: 2 weeks (15-20 days)
Method: V60Mill: EK43
Water: Pentair Everpure 70ppm
For espresso:
Uses 17 grams of dry coffee to extract 43 grams of total beverage into the cup in 27 to 30 seconds.
