Red bourbon variety, washed process
Roasted for filter brewing

Aromatic & warming
Dried orange · Baking spice · Honeycomb

This coffee comes to us from father and son producers, Alex and Aimé Gahizi’s Gitesi washing station in the west of Rwanda. I’ve been working with the Gahizis for well over a decade now, and value our relationship immensely.

While the coffee washing station was started by Alex Gahizi after the Rwandan genocide, today it’s largely operated by his son, Aimé.

Located in the Western Province, the Gitesi operation extends beyond just the washing station to a collection of around 20,000 coffee trees, owned by the Gahizi family. Here, they’re able to experiment with innovative sustainable agricultural techniques and different varieties of coffee trees.

Traditionally, the vast majority of coffee cultivated in Rwanda is a red bourbon variety, and this lot is no different. In future seasons, we hope to be able to source from some of the newer varieties being grown.

At Gitesi, ripe coffee cherries delivered daily from nearly 1,800 local smallholder farmers are hand-sorted before pulping — a process that removes the skin and majority of fruit flesh from the seeds inside. The coffee then undergoes around 16-hours of dry fermentation and a 12-hour freshwater soak before being dried on raised beds for up to 15 days.

This season’s selections from Gitesi are just wonderful — amongst the best we’ve seen in recent years. Expect warmth, balance, gentle but defining acidity underpinned by red fruit sweetness and flavours of baking spice.

Our relationship with Gitesi spans over a decade. Tim has bought coffee from Alex and Aimé since 2013, and in Australia for the past six years. This year, we directly purchased coffee with the aid of Rwanda Trading Company and Sucafina.