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Quarter Horse Coffee Club

Exclusive coffees for ✛ Plus plan subscribers

The exclusive coffee for

December 2023

Gatare

Rwanda

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Coffee Profile

Varietals
Red Bourbon

Process
Washed

Producer
Gatare Washing Station

Notes
Cinnamon, Blackberry, Lime, Pear, Dark Chocolate, Treacle Juicy & Floral

More about the coffee, producer & region.

Perhaps the station with the most revered coffees of all our Rwandan speciality lots, Gitwe is in fact the smallest washing station of all RTC’s stations in the Western Province. Covering an area of less than 1 hectare, Gitwe is blessed with being situated at the top of a mountain valley at almost 2000 metres. Just 3km from Gatare and near to the town of Kamina in the Karambi sector, Gitwe is the name of the land on which the station is built. Healthy coffee trees and tropical fruit line the trail down to the station from the road above. Built recently in 2016 and bought by RTC in 2018 who employed 6 staff full time with the addition of 50 during the season. 90% are women. Station manager, Augustin, is from Kigali but after a period of ill health left the city in favour of the mountain air and rural environment. He left the city to manage and live near the washing station in 2018 and has not been sick since.

About the Region

Despite being a tiny station, 1020 farmers contribute to Gitwe’s annual production of 500 tons of cherry, which is all high scoring specialty quality, all of whom have received training through RTC’s training program. Farm sizes range from just 150 coffee trees to 6000 (2.5 hectares). Though most farms are 2-3km from the station, many of the farmers are elderly with limited mobility and so the area is serviced by RTC through 15 cherry collection points.

About the Process

The Gishyita washing station located in Rwanda’s western district of Karongi supports 995 local farming households. Their farm sizes range from less than half a hectare to around 3ha and most are within 5km of the station. When RTC took over managing the station in 2018 the station processed an amount of 187 tons of cherry of varied quality, contributed to by those 995 farmers. At the end of the season in May 2022 those same farmers contributed a total of 842 tons of cherry, 100% of which is expected to produce Specialty quality green coffee. All 995 farmers have completed or are currently participating in RTC’s training program.