In The Cup
This naturally processed bourbon from Kinini in Rwanda is packed with sugar like sweetness and is exceptionally clean with a lively acidity. Roasting this light ...
In The Cup
This naturally processed bourbon from Kinini in Rwanda is packed with sugar like sweetness and is exceptionally clean with a lively acidity. Roasting this light to be optimised for filter brew methods, we are enjoying notes of pomegranate, lime and milk chocolate.
The Story
The Story of Rwanda Kinini began in 2008 when Malcolm Clear and Jaqueline Turner set up the charity ‘A New Beginning’. This was started to help individuals, mainly widows and orphans of the 1994 genocide, who were displaced to an uncultivated area of savannah in the Rulindo district. After setting up a school and a health centre they then founded the Kinini Washing Station and started growing coffee in 2012, partnering with 633 local farmers, each with an average plot of about half a hectare. Although many of these farmers had previous agricultural experience, growing cash crops was new to most of them, never mind a complex crop like speciality coffee. However, with the on-going support and education of the Kinini washing station the group are producing extremely high-quality coffee.
Social and Environmental
Phase one for the charity was to provide a central school and a health centre to realise the community’s fundamental human rights of education and healthcare. Phase two was to help the community achieve self-sufficiency and provide work and income, mostly through the production of speciality coffee. As well as the school and health centre, roads have been built for farmers to get their cherries to the processing plant quickly which improves cup quality significantly. The washing station is located next to a stream, providing fresh water for drinking but also for processing the coffee which aids clean flavour. There is an onsite cupping lab with sample roasters where the farmers can taste the difference between a good crop or bad crop, they also have 3 full time agronomists which work all year round with the producers educating them on best practices. Recently the co-op have also developed a wormery where they can compost the discarded cherry skins to reduce waste and make organic fertilizer for the farmers to use.
The Varieties
Most modern Arabica varieties are either of Bourbon or Typica lineage as these were the first seeds to be taken out of Ethiopia for cultivation back in the 16th century. Although there are thought to be thousands of different varieties growing in Ethiopia, the rest of the world cultivates much less than this and almost all of them stem from either Typica or Bourbon. BM 139 and BM 71 is short for Bourbon Mayaguez 139 & 71. These got their names from Mayaguez in Puerto Rico where Bourbon seeds were taken from Central America for growing. From Puerto Rico, they were then taken to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1930’s and then to Rwanda in the 1950’s. After arriving at the Mulungu Research Centre in D.R. Congo, mother trees were selected for breeding and 71 and 139 were the chosen varieties.
Jackson is another relative of bourbon, however it arrived back in Africa from India where a Mr Jackson identified it as leaf rust resistant in the 1900’s. In the 1920’s it was sent to research stations in Kenya before finding it’s way to Rwanda in the 1940’s. Unfortunately, Jackson is no longer leaf rust resistant, however all 3 varieties produce delicious cup quality and high productivity.
Processing
Once coffee is picked by the smallholders, it is delivered to the washing station before 4pm each day, this helps uphold quality and consistency. Once it’s delivered it is separated in to different lots depending on location and altitude of the farms, these lots are then tracked throughout all of the processing so that quality and cup profile can be identified. After cherries are delivered they are laid out on raised beds at two inches thickness and turned regularly to avoid over fermentation. On the raised beds they are dried for about 48 days before going to the dry mill.
Kinini first processed their early harvests only as washed coffees, then after meeting Jackie and Malcolm at our importing partners, D R Wakefield, we expressed our desire for a natural from them. Not only do they now produce a natural, but it is one of our favourite naturals! The team at Kinini are now working on honey and anaerobic processes which hopefully we can share soon!