Vunga

The Vunga Cooperative is a women-led, well-established small cooperative in the Nyabihu District of Rwanda, where only a very small amount of coffee is produced. Since its establishment in 2009, the Cooperative has become very well known, with a reputation for producing exceptionally high quality coffees. Vunga placed 4th in the 2014 Rwanda Cup of Excellence, a testament to their commitment to quality.

The producers here receive bonus second payments, as well as health insurance through the Cooperative. Our importing partner, Raw Material, works alongside Muraho Trading Co. to help washing stations and affiliate cooperatives to increase their quality of production, fetch a higher price for their coffee, and introduce them to new markets. This model creates incentives that generate producer buy-in and maximises impact.

Red Bourbon cherries are hand sorted before being floated to remove any foreign objects and underripe or damaged cherries. After pulping, the coffee is fermented in dedicated concrete tanks for an average of 12 hours. The parchment is agitated several times throughout the day to encourage lower density parchment to float and clean any residual mucilage off. Further sorting occurs when the coffee released into a large serpentine grading channel. This process separates parchment into density grades, and is given a final rinse. Parchment is once again hand-sorted for removing defects like insect damage, discoloured and chipped coffees, then laid out to dry for 30 days, with regular turning every day.