The Rubanda Washing station in the Mutambu region of Bujumbura province produces some excellent coffees. The Gomvyi Farmers group consist of around 650 members, from the surrounding hillside delivering coffee in their groups to be processed, wet milled, fermented and conditioned prior to dry milling. There are up to 10,000 farmers in the region in total delivering coffee from their small holdings (typically less than 1 hectare in size, with around 200 active producing trees on each one)
The private mill is managed by a local organization, Risca SA, who’s attention to detail and quality is showing results. They have been managing the private mill since 2010. Hand sorting of collected and delivered cherries is crucial prior to washing (and the 2-stage fermentation) to ensure only the ripest cherries are processed.
These Bourbon and Kent variety trees grow at an altitude of 1600m and are harvested between July and September. The screen size is 15, and the fully washed beans get a SCA score of 85 and are described as having a caramel, cherry, creamy chocolatey flavour
