One of this year’s suite of coffees from the boutique Kivubelt group in western Rwanda, this lot comes from smallholder farmers nearby to Kivubelt's original estates. After establishing their own coffee estates in the Gihombo area, Kivubelt acquired 2 local washing stations to capture coffee long produced by surrounding smallholders, often grown at higher elevations than their own farms. Murundo Coffee Washing Station (Murundo CWS) is one of them, and the coffee produced here has come to be known as "People's Farm” coffee, a clever way of illustrating the collective nature of a tight-knit smallholder community. Nyamasheke District The Nyamasheke district in Rwanda is gifted in terroir. The cool, humid climates of both Lake Kivu and the Nyungwe Forest National Park keep precipitation and groundwater abundant throughout the uniquely steep, hilly region. Kivu itself is part of the East African Rift whose consistent drift creates volcanic seepage from the lake’s bottom and enriches the surrounding soils. Coffees from this region are often fuller, jammier in balance and more layered than in the rest of the country. Nyamasheke, like other districts along the lake, includes breathtakingly beautiful shorelines chiseled into steeply terraced agricultural escarpments, as well as fishing and tourism industries that keep the shores lively. Kivubelt Coffee Kivubelt was established in 2011 by Furaha Umwizey, after returning to Rwanda with a master’s degree in economics from Switzerland. Born and raised in Rwanda, Umwizey’s goal with Kivubelt is to create a model coffee plantation, as sustainable in agriculture as it is impactful in local employment and empowerment. Kivubelt began with the acquisition of 200 scattered acres of farmland in Gihombo, a community in Rwanda’s Nyamasheke district that runs along the central shoreline of Lake Kivu. Under Umwizey’s leadership, Kivubelt has planted 90,000 coffee trees on their estates, which now employ more than 400 people during harvest months and is a kind of coffee vocational school for local smallholders interested in improving their farming. “People's Farm” Coffees After establishing their own estates, Kivubelt acquired two washing stations in the immediate area, Murundo CWS and Jarama CWS. Combined, these 2 stations service more than 500 smallholders coffee farmers in the region. Kivubelt offers quality premiums and training programs for participating farming families. Smallholder coffee processed at the washing stations has come to be known as “People's Farm” coffee, to acknowledge the teamwork required of smallholders and processors who, when acting together, can have the same commanding presence as a large single estate.
