Rwanda Muzo Natural

Coffee Story
After 15 years as a coffee producer, Emmanual Rusatira and his family decided to build their washing stations in East Africa, committed to quality and sustainability. The Muzo station is the smallest of the Baho Network. Still, it is dear to Emmanuel as some of his most beautiful coffees are processed there. Emmanuel pays farmers prices in cherry that can be up to 80% over the national farmgate price set in Rwanda to incentivize producers to choose this station.

The specific lot is a Red Bourbon variety grown by 15 producers living on Giko Hill. Their farms range between 1550 and 1900 MASL and average .3 hectares in size. Once harvested, the cherry is delivered to the Muzo washing station to undergo natural processing. Emmanuel has developed a method for drying naturals at Muzo that keeps the drying rate slow while ensuring the flavours are clean and free of over-fermentation. After sorting and floating, coffee cherries go directly onto raised beds to begin drying. The cherries selected are stored in bags for 12 hours to allow the mucilage to stick to the bean. Cherries are turned out onto drying tables the following day in small batches, spread thin, and turned every 2 to 3 hours. Throughout the process, the moisture content level is taken consistently. The coffee is covered with mesh, moved to shaded beds, to full sun and finally under complete shade until it dries to its desired moisture level of 14%. The whole process takes 50 to 55 days.