Gitesi Peaberry

Variety: Red Bourbon

Producer: Alexis & Aime Gahizi

Processing: Natural

Origin: Karongi, Rwanda

Gitesi is a washing station in Rwanda owned and operated by Alexis & Aime Gahizi, a father-and-son team of coffee professionals. They first began processing coffee at the station in 2005, and have steadily increased the volume and quality of their lots as their business has grown. Gitesi station receives coffee from ~1800 small-holder farmers in the area. Competition for cherry in the region is high - so Gitesi has implemented many programs to secure a consistent supply of the highest quality cherry available, including a free coffee plant nursery, available health insurance & organic fertilizer for farmers, and a bonus payment structure based on quality and yield at the end of each season.

This particular lot from Gitesi is a peaberry, which means it's comprised exclusively of coffee cherries that only included one bean instead of two. Conventional wisdom suggests peaberries are sweeter and denser, and the flavors here definitely corroborate that position! We're getting a juicy, tropical papaya note, followed up with a dark chocolate backbone and some great sugary sweetness. It's a dynamic coffee with plenty of flavor and depth, a real treat for coffee lovers of all stripes. Bottoms up!