The Musasa Dukunde Kawa cooperative has four washing stations lying high in Rwanda’s rugged northwest. Ruli – the cooperative’s first washing station - was built by the co-op in 2003.

Constructed at a vertiginous 1,999 metres above sea level, it is one of Rwanda’s highest washing stations. 

Varietals: Red bourbon
Processing: Fully washed & dried on raised beds
Altitude: 2,000m

Cherries are hand-picked only when fully ripe and then pulped that same evening using a mechanical pulper that divides the beans into three grades by weight. The facilities here include a machine that removes the mucilage more efficiently, thus reducing the overall fermentation time. 

After pulping, the coffee is dry fermented overnight (for around 15 hours) and then graded again using flotation channels that sort the coffee by weight.

Washed beans are moved from the wet fermentation tanks onto the pre-drying tables, where they are intensively sorted under shade for around six hours. Next, the beans are moved onto the washing station’s extensive drying tables for around 20 days (depending on the weather), where they are sorted again for defects, turned regularly, and protected from rain and the midday sun by covers, ensuring both even drying and the removal of any damaged or ‘funny looking’ beans.