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FreeForm Coffee Roasters

Rwanda - Fugi Warakoze Musaza

Rwanda - Fugi Warakoze Musaza

$22.00
$22.00
Sale Sold out

A delightful lot honoring the elder generation of Rwandan coffee farmers. Clean notes of raspberry, brown sugar, blood orange, and an aroma of potpourri.

Buy a Bag, We'll Plant a Tree

For each bag of coffee sold, we donate one tree to be planted on your behalf with Eden Reforestation Projects.  Learn more about our impact initiatives.

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Shipping for every FreeForm Coffee order is carbon neutral! We purchase carbon offset credits for each shipment at no additional cost to you. Learn More.

All orders of $50 or more ship free!  For orders with free shipping, we will typically select the most economic shipping method between USPS Priority Mail and UPS Ground.  Our goal is to have your coffee is delivered to you within 2-3 business days from roasting. 

Orders less than $50 will display shipping costs and carrier options in your cart at checkout.

If you have specific requirements or preferences for shipping carriers, or need your order by a specific date, please just let us know in the order notes at checkout or shoot us an email.

Get ready for some freshly roasted coffee!

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Details

  • Producer

    7 Smallholder farmers near Fugi Station, owned by Baho Coffee

  • Elevation

    1700 - 1900 meters

  • Variety

    Red Bourbon

  • Processing

    Washed / Wet

  • Roast Level

    Light-Medium

  • Tasting Notes

    Raspberry, Brown Sugar, Blood Orange

Highlights

Story

So often youth and innovation are celebrated in today's coffee world, and it's wonderful to see the next generation take the baton. This coffee, however, is about honoring and respecting the elderly coffee farmers of Rwanda, most of whom have been growing coffee their entire lives through enormous changes in the coffee sector and Rwanda as a whole. As a small nod and thank you for their continued commitment to coffee growing, Rwandan coffee producer and exporter, Emmanuel Rusatira separated the coffee of 7 elderly coffee farmers and named this lot "Warakoze Musaza," which translates as, "thank you old man" in the local language of Kinyarwanda.

The Farmers

Fugi Warakoze Musaza is the harvest of seven life-long Rwandan coffee farmers:

  • Evariste Nyandwi 
  • Andree Utabazi 
  • Daniel Ndahimana 
  • Francois Nsanzimana 
  • Frodouard Munyentwali 
  • Augustin Murekezi 
  • Vedaste Biziyaremye 

Each grower tends an average farm size of just .19 hectares (just under 1/2 an acre) and has been producing coffee for decades, if not their entire lives. These farmers sell their ripe coffee cherries to nearby Fugi washing station, where they are paid at least 1.5x national standards, with an additional payment for meeting specialty grade quality.

Flavor Profile

Warakoze Musaza is a delightful cup, with a balanced brightness and body that pairs easy drinking with a depth of flavor. We taste notes of raspberry and brown sugar, with a tingling gentle citrus acidity reminiscent of blood orange, and a bouquet of potpourri in the aroma.

Washing Station

Fugi Station

Located in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Fugi is nestled between the Nyungwe National Forest and the border of Burundi. Managed by Emmanuel Rusatira of Baho Coffee, Fugi has become a hub for innovation and a homebase for numerous pilot projects - like the first women producer group, a parabolic drying structure, and a small composting facility producing organic fertilizers. 

Fugi was built in 2013, but it was purchased by Emmanuel in 2016. Since then, he’s dedicated this station to solely producing specialty grade coffee. Fugi was Emmanuel’s very first station; and thus, it’s a key component of the foundation upon which Baho Coffee was built.  It’s the third smallest station in the Baho collection, purchasing cherry from around 950 smallholder farmers and producing 900 bags of exportable specialty grade coffee each year. 

As is standard practice for Baho-owned stations - training, inputs, and substantial contributions towards health insurance premiums are provided for all farmers delivering. Furthermore, each station has an agronomist on site that organizes training sessions focused on topics such as coffee plant care (planting, fertilizing, pruning, harvesting, etc), environmental protection, and importance of our traceability efforts. Various inputs like fertilizers and new coffee seedlings are provided free of cost to all farmers. Baho is involved a step further here as well - helping farmers with transportation to gather materials and lending tools/equipment when necessary. 

The EXPORTER

Baho Coffee

After nearly 20 years of direct involvement establishing washing stations and managing coffee sector development projects throughout Rwanda for other companies, Emmanuel Rusatira decided to branch out with his family and start their own operations. Establishing Baho Coffee allowed Emmanuel to freely focus energy towards implementing his own philosophies and pushing high quality protocols at stations that he saw as direct investments for both his family and for the communities that they’re located within.

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