Ngoma is a new station in the Baho Coffee range, acquired by Emmanuel Rusatira at the end of 2019. It is located in the famous Nyamasheke district and is situated in one of the most beautiful locations, directly on the shores of Lake Kivu. 780 farmers supply this station, which accounts for approximately
It produces 575 bags of exportable green coffee per season. This makes it one of Baho's smallest stations and will likely be the focus of the quality program in the coming years.
In Rwanda, there is an ongoing appellation project attempting to identify and label coffees from Lake Kivu, similar to what has been done with coffees in many regions of Colombia. Ngoma will play a central role in this appellation project for Baho Coffee, especially since coffees from this station have achieved high rankings in the Cup of Excellence in recent years. The first samples this season are consistently complex and floral.
These hills and islands represent a collection of distinct microclimates and communities. This allows us to isolate not only individual coffees but also specific cup characteristics associated with these microclimates.
Because access to this area is difficult, Baho not only pays farm gate prices that are well above the national farm gate price, but also covers the transport costs for delivering the cherries to Ngoma. This is the first step toward building a transparent and equitable relationship with farmer groups who we hope will continue to supply Ngoma for many years to come.
The following 7 farmers from Bikunda Hill contributed to this lot:
● Viateur Basabose
● Valerie Nyiranzeyimana
● Jmv Usekanabagoyi
● Innocent Uwihoreye
● Celestin Manirarora
● Sylveran Ugirabantu
● Emmanuel Cyiza
The ripe coffee cherries are harvested and taken to the CWS (Coffee Washing Station). After receiving these coffee cherries, the good cherries (red) are separated from the unripe cherries, the overripe beans, and any other foreign matter. We then separate the good cherries (heavy) from the floating cherries (light) in floating tanks.
After all the cherries have been separated, we bring them directly to the coffee drying beds, where they are continuously picked by hand to remove any further foreign matter from the good cherries.
The process takes between 35 and 40 days until the beans are dry at a moisture content of 12 to 12.5%. They are then stored for at least 30 days before being transferred to the dry mill for dehulling.
At the dry mill, we use standard dry milling equipment to destem the beans, color-sort them, and separate damaged beans and foreign matter from good-quality beans. The good-quality beans are then re-sorted to achieve a maximum quality profile before being shipped to the NAEB EXPORT WAREHOUSE for export.
