BUXTON · RWANDA · ANAEROBIC NATURAL

ALL ABOUT THE BEAN: Gasharu, Rwandan Anaerobic Natural

This anaerobic natural processed lot is from Gasharu washing station Wimana on the shores of Lake Kivu, Nyamasheke-Gatare district, Western Rwanda. Gasharu work with 1,075 smallholder farmers in the region, which is just a stone's throw from Nyangwe Forest National Park, one of the largest and best preserved mountain rainforests in central Africa, home to an esimated 25% of Africa's primates (excluding humans).

Gasharu coffee is managed by Valentin Kamenyi. Growing up in rural Rwanda in the 1990s, coffee had a mythical quality to it. "I was told coffee beans were sold abroad to make bullets. This was intriguing to me as I always imagined bullets to be magical, small and yet so noisy and powerful,” he recalls. Of course these child hood tales are now a thing of the past, yet coffee still carries special significance to him as the heart of his community. 

THE PROCESS

Ripe cherries are carefully selected - first by hand and then by floatation. The cherries are then dried in the sun on raised African beds for 30-40 days depending on the weather. During this period the coffee is sorted by hand to remove any physcial defects and is regularly turned to ensure even drying and prevent over fermentation or mould formation. The coffee is covered during rain or midday sun to protect it from damage.

Every day quality controller tests the relative humidity until a value of 12% is reached, after which the coffee is bagged and stored in a cool, dry warehouse to rest pending secondary processing (hulling, grading, sorting etc.)