Rwanda Ruli [Light roast]

Dukunde Kawa/Musasa Cooperative

Dukundekawa Musasa is a co-op founded in 2000 in Gakenke, Northern Rwanda, having 1193 farms in their membership. "Dukunde Kawa" means ”（I) love coffee” in a Kinyarwanda, an official language of Rwanda.

The co-op owns 3 main washing stations- Ruli, Mbilima, and Nkara. At each station coffee cherries go through high-standard selection process and meticulously managed all the way to their shipment process at their drying mills on-site.

Different harvests are separately managed as individual lots, which is another example of Dukundekawa’s thorough QC and management style. On the premises there are signs with slogans such as “save water”, “preserve forests”, and “to protect the environment is to protect people”, raising awareness of eco-friendly mindsets among the producers. They also are a certified member of Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade.

Recently, they have opened a cafe with grand view, and are hiring baristas- the co-op is serving as a platform that provides jobs and income off-season, as well as showcasing Rwandan coffee domestically and globally. When the importer visited the co-op in 2024, they were in the middle of building a kindergarten- the profits are invested in their facility, as well as being shared and returned to the members as an incentive, and used to supply farm animals and zero interest loans. Their focus on quality improvement and care for the producers are encouraging sustainable coffee production.

Since 2022, Dukundekawa collaborates with ONIBUS COFFEE on a soil project where they experimentally introducing a homemade organic coffee pulp compost into their production process. This aims to offer a solution to some of the challenges Rwandan coffee faces, such as fertilizer shortages and soil quality improvement. (The importer purchased some of the lots from this project.)

RWASHOSCCO, the supplier, represented by Angelique Karekezi, encourages and empowers women in Rwandan coffee industry through social supports and presenting lot called “Women’s Lot” which is a lot by all-female production.

Ruli CWS

Dukundekawa co-op was established in 2000 in Gakenke, Northern Rwanda. Ruli CWS is the largest one of the 3 washing stations owned by the co-op, and started running in 2004.

Ruli CWS has a drying mill, a cupping lab as well as a cafe, also functioning as a flagship station of the co-op. They process cherries collected from 824 farms, harvested from 167 ha land.

Due to the area having frequent rainfalls that slows the cherries’ maturing process, the coffee they produce have high quality and fuller body.

Cherries are harvested once a year, between March and October, and then processed between June and October. The soil is formed with silt and acidic with a score of pH5.1. The area’s temperature sits stably between 16-18c. The area gets 1,300-1,400mm of rainfalls annually.

The coffee trees are planted with 2-2.5m spaced between, which allows 2,500 trees per ha to grow. Coffees are grown by small-scale farmers, who own approx. 200 trees each.

Once the cherries are transported to the washing station, they are spread over an African table and picked, then going through a floating test, followed by numerous strict water-based gravity sortings that leads to a notably low defect rate.

They are also repeatedly hand-picked throughout the process. Cherries in parchment are then dried for approx. 24 days in sunlight.

The station also handles natural and honey processes, and they pride in selecting and processing only evenly and fully ripen cherries, meticulously managed in lots separated by harvest dates.

Coffees produced by Dukundekawa won CoE in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018.

The area used to be a part of famous late king Mibambwe’s residence- the farmers offer coffee seeds to the king for the blessing on the next season, with the former kingdom’s power and courage. The king may have left the earth a long time ago, but the people of the land still carry the torch as Dukundekawa co-op, pouring their hearts and passions into producing the top quality coffee beans.