Horsham Coffee Roaster - Rwanda Birembo Lot 5

Birembo, located on the south eastern side of lake Kivu, is a washing station which is privately owned by Dormans. They are well established as one of the leading exporters of speciality coffee in both Rwanda and Kenya. They have exceptional quality control procedures which really set them apart.

Around 500-600 farmers deliver their cherry to the wet mill where the unripe cherries are removed using floatation tanks before being pulped using a McKinnon pulper. They then undergo a fermentation under water for 10-12 hours before being washed in grading channels and separated into three quality bands.

At the peak of the harvest, the washing station receives somewhere between 4 and 7 thousand kilos of cherry a day and typically only 10-20% of this will end up being grade A1 coffee. To make up one lot, consisting of around 50 bags, 4,500kg of parchment is required. As it is extremely unlikely that one days harvest will yield this much A1 grade coffee, each day’s lots are cupped and scored and then blended together according to their score and size.