Gito
 
Station: Kilimbi, Rugali, Gisheke
Region: Nyamasheke District
Country: Rwanda
Altitude: 1600 - 1650 MASL
Variety: Red Bourbon
Process: Natural
 
Sourced by Raw Material.
 
The Context:
In Rwanda, we work alongside Muraho Trading Co.
This partnership helps affiliate co-operatives increase
their quality of production, fetch a higher price for their
coffee, and introduces them to new markets. This will
be a continuous work in progress in the coming years,
as we gain a greater understanding of the particular
challenges Rwandan coffee producers face.
Through this process we can develop a model that
creates incentives that generate producer buy-in, all
the while maximising impact. We supply coffee from
across Muraho’s washing stations, which are located in
the Nyamasheke, Gakenke, and Nyabihu regions of
Rwanda.
The Gito coffees are something new for us at Raw
Material. Finding new markets for coffees in order to
generate increased profits for producers is a key part
of our work. The Gito blend comes from three of
MTCo’s beautiful stations in Nyamasheke District,
Rugali, Kilimbi, and Gisheke. This screen size, 13-14, is
usually sent straight to the commodity market. Having
isolated the cherries, we found a hidden gem that we
are thrilled to share with you.
 
Gito means ‘tiny’ in Kinyarwanda. Traditionally, this
screen selection has been sorted and sold to the
commodity market, based on its size alone. To ensure
we could maximise the volumes we could provide to
the specialty market (and in turn return better profits to
those who produced them) we decided to isolate
these coffees and see for ourselves. Sorted by density,
we collected the highest density grade and found
these coffees to be a delight. We are now thrilled to
offer these hidden gems to our specialty customers.
For the Gito natural, the cherry is sorted and cleaned,
it is ready to be dried. The cherries are laid out evenly
across raised beds, providing consistent airflow, and
height away to prevent moisture and animals from
coming into contact with the cherry. The cherry is dried
for 30 days, turned constantly when the sun is high
and covered during the night. Once the cherry has
dried, the now dried outer fruit is removed, and the
coffee beans are ready to be organised for packing.