Mothers day 2020

We couldn’t think of a better way to honour Mums than to collaborate again with our mates who proudly started Flight Coffee in Mum’s garage back in 2009. With the desire to improve coffee for everyone as their key driver, these boys have continued to proudly proclaim Mum is the word.

This collabortation was the one that got away. We first sampled Gisheke at a cupping hosted by Raw Material. The profile of this coffee made an impact on not just us, but most people in the room.The story drew us in even further, boats, islands and no road access.

We had planned to do a Muraho Trading Company / Raw Material collaboration since the beginning with our mates at Flight. As luck would have it, we had also planned a collaboration to coinside with celebrating a year of The Snobby Collective, our ducks were not about to line up in rows.

When Gisheke finally hit our shores, it was just too good to let it pass by and what better way to share it than with our mum's and the boys who started in mum's garage.

For this special collaboration we explored

THE WASHING STATION:

Accessible only by boat until roads are constructed, Gisheke washing station really is the hidden gem of Rwanda. Purchased in a state of neglect by Muraho Trading Company in September 2017, it under went a significant makeover early the following year to transform it into the gem it is today. Located between two steep hills with an outlook directly over Lake Kivu, Idjwi Island (the second largest island in Africa) and to the west the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such as the geography influences, the wind flows directly through the station and its 69 drying tables providing ideal conditions for drying high quality natural lots such as this micro lot selected by Raw Material during their visit during May 2019. Located at 1650 M.A.S.L Gisheke station employs 3 full time staff and 134 casual staff. Sourcing cherry from as high as 1850 M.A.S.L, collected from 787 farmers in the surrounding region, but not all of Gisheke’s cherry comes from the mainland, as the station is responsible for processing all of the cherry produced on the islands. Nearly 40% of Gisheke’s 350 - 400 metric tons come from Mushungwe Island. From these boats its not uncommon to see the famous Lake Kivu cows swim past on their way to surrounding islands in search of their next meal.

QUALITY CONTROL: Segment available to subscribers in our members section.

THE ROASTER:

We couldn’t think of a better way to honour Mums than to collaborate again with our mates who proudly started Flight Coffee in Mum’s garage back in 2009. With the desire to improve coffee for everyone as their key driver, these boys have continued to proudly proclaim Mum is the word. We’re sure she is proud of these milestones; -2010 Flight coffee opened the iconic Memphis Belle cafe as the public face of the business, humble beginnings of recycled, often donated materials, it was the passion for better coffee that saw Memphis Belle become an award winning institution. -2011 Raw Material is born, Co-Founder Matt moved abroad and soon realized to have a positive impact, more resources would be needed. Raw Material morphed into a full-time green bean farming, exporting, importing and consulting company. Matt has not lived in NZ since. -2012 saw the first farm transformation project, Helena. A Colombian commodity coffee farm, turned into a producer of specialty grade coffee. -2015 with various projects under their belt, an 8ha coffee farm in Huila, Colombia was purchased. El Fenix was to become a base for the team and home to a community wet mill for the neighbourhood. Another step towards the goal of greater price stability for coffee producers and improved income equality along the value chain.

TASTING NOTES:

Country: Rwanda

Region: Nyamashehe

Producer: Muraho Trading Company

Variety: Red Bourbon

M.A.S.L 1600-1850

Process: Natural

Drying time (avg): 40 days

Flavours: Plum Red Grape Grapefruit

RECIPE:

Espresso:

Dose: 20g Time: 29 Seconds Yield: 44g

Pour Over:

15g coffee: 250g water 45g bloom (with a stir) for 30 seconds Pour the remaining water over the next 60 seconds. Give the V-60 a gentle swirl and tap down Total brew time: 2:30 – 2:45

Plunger: Click here for our guide to making mum the best plunger coffee she has ever had

Photo credit: Raw Material