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About the Producers
Located in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Fugi is tucked between the Nyungwe National Forest and the border of Burundi. It quickly became one of our favorites in the Baho network, producing consistently excellent washed and natural lots. Furthermore, it’s transformed into what Emmanuel is calling Baho’s hub for innovation. Nearly 50% of Fugi’s production was alternatively (honey, natural, or experimental) processed during the past few seasons.
Fugi was built in 2013, but it was purchased by Emmanuel in 2016. Since then, he’s dedicated this station to solely producing specialty grade coffee. Fugi was one of Emmanuel’s first two washing stations, and it played an integral role as the foundation upon which he launched Baho Coffee operations back in 2016. It’s the third smallest station in the Baho collection, purchasing cherry from around 950 smallholder farmers and producing 900 60kg bags of exportable specialty grade coffee each year.
Processing
During the harvest season, cherry is selectively handpicked by farmers and their families. Farmers deliver their cherry to the station or a centrally located collection site on foot or by bicycle. Fugi encourages farmers to sort through their cherry, removing any unripe, damaged or overripe cherry before selling their cherry to the station. At Fugi, staff sort cherry by hand and then float the cherry to check for density. The station accepts cherry that passes both visual hand sorting and floating. On average, Fugi has 120 seasonal workers who oversee and inspect cherry from intake to pulping to drying and beyond. Sorting work consumes over 70% of seasonal labor, but Rusatira knows it is worth it.
Accepted cherry is then pulped on a Mackinon pulper before being dry fermented for 12 hours. The parchment is soaked for 8 hours in clean water to ensure complete removal of mucilage before being washed through grading channels.
All Baho stations employ their own extended grading system to separate beans into different qualities and sizes. Most stations provide three sizes of beans: A, B and C with A being the largest and highest quality. At Baho Coffee stations, grade A is further separated into three grades and grade B into two separate grades, with C remaining a single grade. Rusatira says that even though this method is more work than the standard practice, he believes it’s a good time investment because it gives the coffee a chance to shine. Rusatira believes that “coffee talks” and he likes to listen. Establishing additional grades allows him to interpret each individual bean’s ideal grouping and create more uniform and delectable lots.
After grading, parchment is transferred to one of the two drying shelters at Fugi station. The covered shelters provide shade and give the coffee a chance to rest while station employees sort the wet parchment and remove any defective beans. Soon thereafter, parchment is moved to the drying beds to dry in direct sunlight. When the temperature becomes too hot, the beans are covered with sheets that allow some heat to reach the beans. In total, drying Fully washed parchment at Fugi takes approximately 33 to 40 days.
Price
This coffee was imported through Sundog Trading, a single origin specialty importer.
The FOB price for this lot was $?.??. [FOB price is the total price of the coffee up to the point of departure from the country; it includes farmgate/price paid to the grower, in-country transportation, and the cost of processing and preparation for export. It does not include the price of freight to the US, US warehousing, US customs charges, or the cost of moving coffee with the US.]
During the harvest season from March through June, the New York C price for coffee was an average of $3.68; the $?.?? FOB price for this coffee includes a significant premium for the farmer above the C market price, which reflects the excellent quality of this coffee. After being imported to a warehouse in the consuming country, the United States, the coffee cost was $6.05/lb. The cost of the shipping from the warehouse to our roastery made our final green price $6.45.
Avg. C Price (at the time of harvest): $2.16
F.O.B Price: $3.68
Ex-Warehouse: $6.05
Final Green Price: $6.45
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