Name: Ngoma CWS
Location: Nyamasheke district, Southern Province
Capacity: 250 MT (metric tons) of cherry
Foundation: 2006
Year in which it started working with Baho: 2020
Altitude range of the farms: 1500 to 1850 m
Number of farmers: 1006 smallholders
About Ngoma CWS
Ngoma is located by the shores of the Lake Kivu, the biggest in Rwanda. It is an area with many washing stations and the competition for cherry is very high. Here we have a good combination of soil, which is volcanic, and temperature. The days are hot but, at night, the lake blows a cool air on the raised beds, helping us better control the drying process. It brings the heat of the coffee down and helps with flavour development. This coffee doesn’t dry quickly. It does so in a slow and uniform way, giving this coffee a strong character. I also use the hills to my favour, putting the raised beds between hills to help drive the air to them. The air is so pleasant here - and the view is not bad either - that my plan is to build a house by the lake where I can host guests.
About Baho Coffee
With more than 15 years of experience in the Rwandan speciality coffee industry, the Rusatira family found the opportunity to set up our own four coffee washing stations. The location and specific management of each station show itself in unique flavour profiles. We developed our own grading system and are continuously experimenting with washed, honey, and natural processed coffee. All year round we work together with coffee producers to support them on the field, and financially, so as to produce the best coffee cherries of the region and boost quality year after year. All our attention goes to the selection, de-pulping, fermentation, washing, drying, storage, and continuous quality control.
“Baho means "stay alive" or "be strong", "don't give up". It is the kind of thing you say to friends when they tell you of their misfortunes or problems. When they want to give up. You hug them and say "Baho!". You give them comfort. This is what I aim to achieve with my company and the coffees we produce, to give comfort to the ones who drink it and the ones who grow it. It is something that is deeply connected to my personal history as a genocide survivor and to the journey of coffee. Coffee is a crop that goes through many difficulties. It is hit by the weather, by bad management, then you pick it, heat if with fire… If you could ask coffee to tell you its journey you’d cry. I believe coffee can, in fact, speak. And for me, it says something like... Baho.”
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