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Rwanda Maraba Coffee Washing Station Detailed Information

This profile covers the Rwanda Maraba coffee washing station, its origin specifications, a full cupping report, and the harvesting and processing steps behind Maraba's clean, bright coffee.

Coffee Origin Specifications

Country: Rwanda

Regional Designation: Maraba District, Huye Province

Coordinates: Latitude: 454768

CWS Altitude: 1903 meters

Cultivation Altitude: 1600-2000 meters

Variety: Bourbon

Soil Type: Clay, clay-sandy

Soil pH: 5.3

Annual Rainfall: 1300-1400 mm

Average Annual Temperature: 17-18°C

CWS Full Name: Multisector Investment Group Coffee Washing Station (MIG CWS)

Company Type: Private company, established in 2005

Processing Capacity: 297 tons

Processing Method: Mountain spring water wash fermentation, equipped with 40 African drying beds

Storage: Equipped with well-ventilated storage facilities

Variety: 100% Bourbon

Processing: Washed fermentation method, natural sun-drying on African raised beds

Grade: FW Grade A, Appearance/Defect characteristics: Green

Cupping Report

Roasting: 11 minutes, removed at medium first crack, approximately Cinnamon Roast level

Dry Aroma: Apple, floral notes, honey, cherry

Wet Aroma: Floral, vanilla, sweet spices, chocolate, green apple

Sipping Experience: Excellent cleanliness, a bright and crisp apple flavor, delicate texture, floral notes, cherry, chocolate, a minty cooling sensation, a delicate vanilla sweetness, cherry-sweet chocolate, and a persistent aftertaste

Rwanda Maraba Coffee Production Process

Rwanda coffee revolves around its various CWS (Coffee Washing Stations) as activity centers. The Maraba region, especially its top-grade batches, offers clean, delicate aromas with bright, sweet, refined flavors. The MIG Washing Station, which represents Maraba coffee, belongs to Rwanda's southern growing region.

Multisector Investment Group (MIG) Harvesting and Processing Process

(1) Main Harvest Period: May to July. Select mature coffee cherries, do an initial manual screening at the farmers' plantations, then transport them to the washing station for same-day processing and batch recording.

(2) Washing Station: Screen by hand again to remove defective beans or foreign materials, then pour into water tanks for float separation, removing the floating cherries.

(3) Depulping: Machine removal of the fruit pulp, followed by washing and the start of fermentation.

(4) Slow Fermentation: Run a slow fermentation process.

(5) Washing: Once fermentation is complete, direct natural water sources into washing channels for multiple manual brushings to clean the exterior.

(6) Density Sorting: Sort by density once more.

(7) Sun Drying: Sun-dry on the washing station's 40 raised beds. During drying, workers manually turn the beans while removing discolored, pest-damaged, and irregularly shaped beans. This meticulous sun-drying process is rarely seen in other African coffee-producing countries.

(8) Storage: When moisture content reaches approximately 12%, store the beans by batch in the washing station's well-ventilated dedicated storage facilities.

(9) Final Processing: Transport to the capital's dry processing mill for hulling and grading.

About FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee is a Guangzhou-based roastery with a small shop but a diverse range of beans, offering both famous and lesser-known origins.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washed processing is a traditional way of handling coffee fruit with water. The steps usually run: float separation, depulping, soak-and-ferment to remove the mucilage, washing or further soaking, and drying before hulling to get the beans we want. Because washed beans sit in water for a long time, chemical changes take place inside them and much of the simple sugar (fructose and glucose) is consumed, which lowers the coffee's sugar content while increasing various organic acids. The result is a cup that keeps more of the bean's own aroma and brings a bright fruit acidity, clean and fresh.

Many people know Yirgacheffe but not that smallholder farmers there deliver their cherries to a cooperative for shared processing and sales. FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gudingding Cooperative is an excellent processing team from Gudingding village with skilled know-how; its coffee became famous for being especially refined and clean. Because it uses washed processing, FrontStreet's Gudingding Cooperative shows jasmine and bright citrus acidity to the fullest, and after a light-to-medium roast the coffee gives off green tea and honey notes, suiting pour-over, cold brew, espresso, and more.

When it comes to washed coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato is one of the best-known examples, since Kenya excels at double-washing green beans. Washed processing is repeated an extra time: float, soak the beans, wash off the mucilage remaining on the surface, soak again, then dry, hull, and store. Through repeated rinsing and soaking, the juice-like quality is expressed to the extreme, giving rich aromas of cherry tomato, dark plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar, with a sweet-sour, juicy body that many coffee lovers adore.

Jamaica, once one of the world's most famous coffee origins, struggled with insufficient sunlight. As an island climate, it has shorter daylight than other regions, so to lower the risk of beans spoiling, washed processing was born. The biggest difference between washed and natural processing is that washed removes the skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying the beans, cutting the moisture wrapped around the bean and therefore shortening drying time; the beans come out bright and low in defects. Washed processing is what guarantees Blue Mountain's rich aroma, bringing out a pure character of hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel with a balanced body where no single note dominates or is missing.