This special microlot was produced using coffee cherry from 34 women farmers who own and grow coffee on small farms in the hills surrounding Sovu washing station, in Rwanda’s Southern Province.

To distinguish their coffee and ensure it is processed separately, the women have organised to deliver cherry to the washing station on certain days of the week. The women’s lots are kept separate through the processing, milling and preparation stages.

Cherries are delivered to the washing station on the same day as they are picked and are inspected and sorted to ensure only the very ripest cherries are processed. They are then pulped on the same day – usually in the evening – using a mechanical pulper that divides the beans into three grades by weight, with the heaviest, usually having the highest cup quality.

After pulping, the coffee is fermented overnight for around 12–16 hours and then graded again using floatation channels that sort the coffee by weight. The beans are then soaked for a further 24 hours before being moved toraised screens for ‘wet-sorting’ by hand. All water used during the processing comes from a natural spring with water from the mountains.

As with most washing stations in Rwanda, women do the majority of hand-sorting. This takes place in two stages—on the covered pre-drying tables and on the drying tables. Washed beans are moved from the wet fermentation tanks onto the pre-drying tables, where they are intensively sorted under shade for around six hours.

Next, the beans are moved onto the washing station’s extensive raised drying tables (‘African Beds’) for around two weeks, where they are sorted again for defects, turned regularly and protected from rain and the midday sun by covers, ensuring both even drying and the removal of any damaged ordefective beans. During this period, the coffee is also turned several times aday by hand to ensure the coffee dries evenly and consistently.