Abateraninkunga Ba Sholi Co-operative (or Aba Sholi Co-op for short) is located in Cyeza sector, Muhanga district, central Rwanda. Established in 2008 by 30 women living and growing coffee in the region as a conscious effort to invigorate the local economy. Back then, coffee was only a small part of the association, there was no profitable market for coffee cherries as there was no washing station in area. This changed when two years later, the mission of the association changed, and eventually became a cooperative. Slowly the cooperative started growing, adding new members every year and in 2014, Aba Sholi opened its very own washing station.

Today there are 610 producers, many of them women, growing coffee at altitudes between 1,800 and 2,000 masl. The Coop became Fair Trade certified in 2015, the same year they won the Rwanda Cup of Excellence Award.

Everyone at Sholi is treated equally regardless of age, gender, religion or disability. The co-operative offers health insurance and a loan system so members manage cash flow and pay for necessities like school fees. 

This lot is fully washed, whereby ripe cherries are carefully selected, first by hand sorting then by floatation to remove under-developed cherries (floaters). The cherries are then depulped and wet-fermented for 15-18 hours, typically overnight, to break down the remaining mucilage. After fermentation, the wet parchment is washed by high pressured water and grading is done throughout long channels to separate coffee by density. During this grading stage, coffee beans pass through a series of gates that allow less dense, lower quality beans to flow through, while retaining the denser, higher quality beans for separate processing in top lots such as this.

The retained washed beans are moved from channels to pre-drying tables, where they are carefully sorted under shade for around 4 hours. Next, the beans are taken on raised drying tables numbered for around 14 days in warm days or 21 days in rainy days. The coffee is also sorted again for defects, any damaged beans and it is turned regularly by women (seasonal workers) and the latter are tasked to protect coffee from rain or the midday sun by using covers. 

Expect tasting notes of red grape, green tea, sugared almond.

Origin: Rwanda
Altitude: 1800-2000m above sea level
Growers: Abateraninkunga Ba Sholi
Farm: 610 individual farmers
Varietal: Bourbon
Process: Washed
Cupping Notes: Red Grape, Green Tea, Sugared Almond
Size: 250g

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