Rwanda : Karasha

Coffee is picked and brought to the Kinini washing station (newly built in May 2016) where it is separated from the other lots to be treated de-pulped using a four-disc McKinnon pulper and fermented from between 5 to 20 hours, depending on the decision of the quality manager monitoring the fermentation. The coffee is then sun-dried for an average of 15 days, depending on the intensity of the sun.

The Karasha lot is a separation from amongst the 633 farmers that are currently using the Kinini washing station, chosen from trees at altitudes of 1800- 2150masl on north easterly facing slopes. The coffee is grown on terroir that is provably excellent for producing coffee, with neighbouring areas producing Cup of Excellence winning lots already.

In 2012, 38 of the 252 hectares were planted with Bourbon Mayaguez 139 seedlings, 2,000-2,500 in each hectare. This totaled nearly half a million new trees, that are now cropping. The cultivar itself most likely originated from the island of Reunion (The same place as where the original Bourbon mutation was first noted), together with Jackson that is also widely found in Rwanda, and a bourbon mutation. The third commonly found cultivar, Bourbon Mayaguez 71, could have come from Ethiopia, introduced via the Congo.