Hey folks! This is our last regular drop before our upcoming vacation, we will be out of office from 6/12-6/18, with the next drop releasing on 6/21. These coffees were on the 6/5 sub drops, so don't double up if youd like to avoid that! Sub Email copywriting posted below:
6/5/2026:
2 bag - Fugi Kiyonza, Marlon Gesha washed
4 bag, Fugi Kiyonza and Fugi Ikizere, 2x Marlon Gesha Washed
For this month's sub, we are stoked to bring back coffee from the Fugi washing station in Rwanda, managed by Emmanuel Rusatira and Aphrodise Munyangaju of Baho Coffee. This year's export was severely impacted by a plastic bag shortage, and then further complicated by the Iran war. These 2 washed process coffees were able to make it out, and we're so happy that they did. Also, we did a quick re-up on the freshest crop of late-harvest gesha from Marlon Bolanos.
Fugi Washing Station:
Operated by Baho Coffee in Rwanda, Fugi station sits between the Nyungwe National Forest and the border of Burundi. Led by Emmanuel Rusatira, Baho Coffee began exporting highly traceable microlots back in 2019 to Sundog Coffee Traders in the United States. Putting together an impressively organized network of farmers throughout local "hills" in Rwanda, Baho works to separate farmer's production into different groups organized by quality and climate. This system functions quite similarly to Long Miles Coffee Project, and it's proven to work when farmers are treated well and paid higher prices. Fugi station offers a higher upfront price per kilo for cherry, as well as a second payment bonus once the coffee has been processed and sold. Farmers selling cherry to Fugi also gain access to specialty coffee training programs, healthcare stipends and agronomy training from a full time specialist on-site. The continued investment that this project provides incredible value to its community while ensuring the future remains bright for Rwandan specialty coffee.
Fugi Kiyonza Washed:
60 smallholder farmers contributed to this lot, chosen for the altitude and general climate of their farms. At 1,900masl, Emmanuel found these lots to have a very profound depth of flavor and great acidity/sweetness. Farmers within the Kiyonza Hill group have been trained to plant and care for shade trees surrounding most of their coffee production, mostly papaya and tomato plants. After cherry collection and floating/sorting, this coffee underwent a 9 hour in-cherry fermentation followed by a depulping step through small water channels, with a further 12 hour soak underwater at the end. The first 72 hours of drying were done under total shade on raised beds, before being allowed to sun dry for a total of 27 days. Despite heavy delays, this lot is holding up extremely well due to this controlled drying step. In the cup, we find loud, syrupy sweet notes of pomegranate and blackberry, followed by a lovely rootbeer acidity in the center and lime zest in the finish.
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Fugi Ikizere Washed:
Ikizere, meaning "confidence" in the Kinyarwanda language, was the name given to this women's producer group 5 years ago, as it started out representing solely single mothers and widows. As the group has grown, it now includes women-led family operations as well. Now at 115 members, benefits for the Ikizere group have now grown to include financial education, short term loans, and building clean water lines to farms that previously had no running water. The farms selected for this seperation range from 1,700-2,000masl and have a very high quality potential. Starting with handpicking and sorting, this lot first underwent a flotation step to remove defects and then an 8 hour in-cherry fermentation underwater. After being put through moving water sorting channels, it underwent another 12 hour underwater fermentation. After an initial shaded drying step that lasted 12-72 hours, this coffee was dried on raised beds for an additional 28 days. Fugi Ikizere was our favorite Rwandan lot last year, offering an intensely clean and green tea forward cup. This year's production skews slightly more blue-tasting, with notes of hojicha and iron goddess instead, and a huge blueberry note up front. The cleanliness of this cup easily puts it first again for me, and the unique profile will make it one to remember.
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Marlon Bolaños's project "The Three Coffee Farmers" is amongst the best of what we've tasted from Huila. Despite growing up in a coffee producing family, it wasn't until the age of 17 that Marlon took an interest in it, signing himself up for a Barista education course at SENA where he learned brewing, green coffee grading, and sensory analysis. Upon returning from that course, Marlon began planting differentiated varietals like pink bourbon, gesha, and chiroso while experimenting with new fermentation techniques on each subsequent harvest. Flash forward to today, and the farm is now owned by Marlon and his 2 brothers, Pedro and Hemerson. Marlon is responsible for quality control, fermentation protocols, sampling and part of the logistics operations. Marlon has also competed and won in several barista and brewing competitions over the last several years, taking spring water from his family's farm for brewing. It's especially suited for coffee due to the natural trace mineral composition, and now coveted by peers after earning the name "Champion's Water." This specific washed gesha lot has quite an interesting process to it, having been submerged in cherry underwater for 48 hours before being drained, left in the same barrels dry to further ferment naturally for 48 hours before being fully washed and dried on raised beds.This advanced processing creates an extremely unique cup, bursting with yellow florals, yellow fig, starfruit, mango and a complex citrus note that reminds us of grapefruit and pomelo. The intense juiciness and acidity here absolutely leapt off the cupping table and we confirmed our forward contract after the first sip.
