Musasa Dukunde Kawa CO2 Decaf - Rwanda

Blackberry. Marzipan. Creamy. 

This is our fantastic decaffeinated coffee offering from Rwanda. It's packed with fruity flavour and creamy sweetness for those who want all the good flavours but none of the caffeine. 

The CO2 (carbon dioxide) decaffeination process is a more natural and organic method for removing caffeine from coffee than other decaf processes. It's also a fantastic method for preserving flavour. 

Origin: Ruli & Kigoma Sectors, Rwanda

Producers: Musasa Dukunde Kawa Cooperatie & Buf Umurage

Varietal: Red Bourbon

Process: Washed CO2 decaffeination

Altitude: 1600 - 2000 metres 

Green coffee sourcing partner: Mercanta 

This coffee is comprised of beans from two exceptional producers in Rwanda, the Musasa Dukunde Kawa cooperative in the north and Buf Umurage in the south. 

About Musasa Dukunde Kawa

This cooperative in the Northern Province of Rwanda is a collective of smallholders that own 4 washing stations, including Ruli, which Downriver has previously purchased coffee from. Many of the small-scale farmers involved with the co-op own less than .25 hectares of land. In Kinyarwanda, Musasa translates to 'a place to make a bed' and Dukunde Kawa means 'let's love coffee', which goes to show how important coffee growing is for the livelihoods of people in these rural communities. The co-op produces outstanding lots for the speciality market year after year and involvement in the co-op at least doubles income for the farmers involved. The cooperative also runs social programmes for their members including providing medical insurance, school fees, training, bicycles for transport, and... cows! 

Cherries are hand-picked when fully ripe and de-pulped that same evening mechanically where it's also sorted by grade. The coffee is then fermented overnight for 12 hours, graded once more, and then soaked for 18-24 hours to stabilise moisture content. The coffee is then hand-sorted in the shade (typically by women) before being moved to drying beds in the sun for 25 days. After reaching 11% humidity, the coffee is stored in Ruli's dry storage facilities before it moves to the co-op's new dry mill in Kigali. The coffee is cupped by experts and Q-graders before shipping.

Our sourcing partner has been working with the cooperative since 2007. 

About Buf Umurage:

Founded by business woman Epiphanie Mukashyaka in 2003, Buf Cafe owns a series of washing stations in the Kigoma sector in the Southern Province of Rwanda. This coffee is comprised of cherries produced from the Umurage station from 463 smallholder producers. Buf Cafe constructed Umurage in 2017 so farmers would not have to travel so far to deliver their cherries outside the Huye District. 

The organisation is working towards more sustainable practices, addressing the needs of the environment and people. They're currently working to harmonise coffee production with local flora, with the nearby Nyungwe forest, to utilise its rich soil and bee population to make their coffee production more eco-friendly. They're also looking after the wellbeing of their staff and families by providing clean water, electricity, opportunities for career growth for staff, and schooling for their children. 

More about the CO2 decaffeination process:

This process involves immersing green beans in a sealed water extraction chamber. Pressurised liquid CO2 is then forced into the extraction chamber, drawing the caffeine out of the green beans and dissolving it. Once the caffeine is successfully extracted, the caffeine-rich CO2 is transferred from the extraction chamber to a low pressure absorption chamber that allows the CO2 to return to a gaseous, caffeine-free state for reuse. The CO2 process is a natural, safe process that preserves the beans’ innate chemical makeup. You can read more about it in our blog post on CO2 decaffeination here.