New Coffee: Rwanda Kilimbi Natural

Flavours of Juicy red berries, orange and white peach, milk chocolate on the finish with a rounded mouthfeel.

ALTITUDE – 1550 -1800 MASL
LOCATION – Nyamasheke District, Gitsimbwe Village
PRODUCERS: Various small lot holders from Kilimbi sector
PREPARATION – Natural, dried on raised beds over 35 - 45 days
VARIETY – Red Bourbon

Kilimbi Coffee Washing Station is built on the shores of Lake Kivu and purchases coffee from about 150 families in the area.  Only perfectly ripe cherry is selected at Kilimbi for the production of natural processed coffee. With the help of a quality manager, producers physically check each lot for any defects, under-ripes and any foreign objects. The cherry is laid out on long raised African beds, with roughly 250-300kg of cherry; this ensures the coffee ferments evenly and allows fluid air movement across all the cherry during the drying phase. The drying process takes between 35 and 45 days, once it reaches 12.5% moisture the cherry is removed from the drying beds and stored until it is milled, once milled, the coffee goes through one final stage of hand sorting to eliminate any defects.