Heres what Falcon Speciality the importers of this coffee have to say about it.
Approaching from the south, passing through Butare and Gikongoro, the journey to Kirambo takes you high up the mountain pass over 2000 metres through the Nyungwe National Forest Park. Here the native L’Hoest’s monkeys dive from the roadside into the jungle below and occasionally baboons sit stubbornly in the road. Rwanda’s National Guard patrol stretches of the forest road, deterring people attempting to enter the country from bordering Congo and Burundi through the jungle.
The small town of Kirambo sits on Lake Kivu’s eastern shore in the Kibuye region, within Rwanda’s Western Province. The washing station covers a 6 hectare area and sits on the lake side, looking west to Congo. Established in 1999, RTC took ownership in 2017 employing 7 full-time and 40 casual staff during the harvest. 95% of staff at Kirambo are women, including Esperance, the accountant, and Florence, the main field officer for the station who works to support the farmers of Kirambo with their participation in RTC’s training program. Florence, 23, has lived and worked in this area all her life and takes great pride in playing a role in the area that supports the local economy. During the training program’s initial enrolment of station employees, Florence stood out as someone with huge potential, curiosity and inner passion, but who back in 2017 was lacking confidence. Florence has since taken great ownership of the station, proudly showing us around the grounds as the processing activity was drawing to a close.
500 farmers contribute cherry to the station that produces exclusively natural processed lots, with an annual average production of 300 tons. Average farm sizes are 300 trees only (less than 1 hectare) with some farmers owning as a few as 50 trees amongst their other crops. All the farms lay within 3km of the station. Many farmers are able to delivery cherry themselves as the station is so close to the farms, and some who have less mobility - often older farmers - will have their cherry collected from the station’s site collectors.
