FIELD TRIP - KANYA | RWANDA

KANYA WASHING STATION | RWANDA 

FIELD TRIP

THE CUP | 

Bright raspberry and red berry compote, juicy citrus acidity, and a brown sugar toffee sweetness that finishes clean with a touch of chocolate. 

THE ORIGIN |

Rwanda has just about everything coffee wants: high altitude, dependable rainfall, and volcanic soils rich in organic structure, all wrapped around an abundance of heirloom Bourbon. Almost all of it is grown by smallholders, around half a million of them, many farming plots no larger than a single hectare. Coffee grows across most of the country, with the densest concentrations hugging the shores of Lake Kivu and spreading through the southern province. Families organise into cooperatives and share centralised wet-mills, known locally as washing stations. The trees flower in September and October, the harvest runs March to July, and shipments leave the country from August through December.

THE PEOPLE | 

Kanya Washing Station started as one man's coffee education. Edmond Kanyamibwa built it in 2014 as a small operation, funded by an RTC loan, driven by a long-standing fascination with coffee. He used the station to learn the craft, refining how cherry is processed, cup by cup, season by season. Over the following years Kanya grew, sharpening its quality and expanding capacity to take on more volume. The profits funded something bigger: a second washing station. In 2017, Edmond sold Kanya to RTC so he could give that second site his full attention.

THE PROCESS |

Standards at Kanya are exacting. Cherry first passes through flotation tanks that strip out foreign matter, underripe fruit, and floaters. What remains is pulped on a Penagos de-pulper, then dry-fermented in a dedicated space for 24 to 36 hours before the mucilage is washed away. From there the coffee dries slowly on raised beds for 15 to 22 days.