A coffee with very sweet notes of apricot, brown sugar and honey. In the mouth it is fresh and clean with a very juicy acidity and body, with slightly citrus notes of Tangerine and also plums, almost like a juice. It also has a very pleasant aftertaste of stone fruit and panela.
The Washed Mushonyi station is located just one kilometer from the shores of Lake Kivu. The 1,200 farmers who deliver cherries to this station live and farm in the hills surrounding Mushonyi. In these hills, the altitude can vary from a minimum of 1,600 meters above sea level to a maximum of 1,950 meters above sea level. Farmers, on average, grow about 300 coffee trees on their small plots. Many also grow bananas, eucalyptus and cassava to generate additional income.
Mushonyi was originally built by the military. At the time, the army anticipated large volumes of cherries and built the station accordingly. The station has eight fermentation tanks, a standard Washed flume and a shed for sorting cherries prior to pulping. RWACOF maintains this infrastructure in pristine condition, even in years when the capacity of the Washed station exceeds the volume of cherries delivered.
Process
After purchasing cherries from growers, Mushonyi sends the cherries through a strict sorting process. First, the Washed station staff removes any lower quality cherries by flotation. Then, specially trained personnel visually inspect the remaining cherries for visual defects.
Once the cherries are sorted, they go through a pulper. Mushonyi is equipped with a Pinhalense eco-pulper that can process up to 2 tons per hour. The machine integrates the flotation process and mechanical removal of mucilage into its flow. From the hopper, the cherries flow into a pile. Here, the machine removes the floating cherries and directs them to a different channel for pulping. Good quality cherries sink and flow into a trough to be processed as high quality.
The coffee then undergoes a 10-hour fermentation in concrete tanks. After fermentation, the parchment passes through a channel at Washed and sorting. As the beans flow, wooden bars placed along the channel prevent the passage of beans of specific densities. These bars are spaced along the length of the channel. While the first barrier stops the densest grains, the next barrier is arranged to stop the second densest grains and so on. In total, the process separates the parchment into five different grades.
The separated parchment is placed on raised beds to dry. Workers check the parchment in the drying process to remove any remaining defects that have passed through the previous steps. The parchment is raked frequently to ensure uniform drying.
Mechanical drying: 32 hours of drying in "Guardiola", 45º-55ºC range. Two 2-hour breaks during the day ensure slow and uniform drying of all the grains.
Stored in parchment for a minimum of two months before preparation and packed in 69 kg GrainPro bags in jute.
When replicating the recipe, there are different variables that can interfere in the final result of your cup, such as the roasting date, conservation of the beans, environment, water, state of the machinery, etc. It is important to keep in mind that all these factors can influence and you may have to make small adjustments when replicating this recipe.
Recipe
16 gr dry
39 gr in liquid
26 seconds
Machine: Sage Barista Pro
Number of grinds: 12
Grinding time: 11,5s
Recommended mineral water: Lanjarón
TDS and percentage of extraction: 8.70 / 22.09 %.
