Country: Rwanda | Region: Rulindo | Importer: Crop to Cup | Producer: Kinini Village Cooperative | Processing: Washed | Altitude: 1,800–2,200 MASL | Varietal: Bourbon | Mill/Washing Station: Kinini Washing Station
Our average cupping score: 86.75
About the Producers
Of the 48 smallholder members at Kinini Village cooperative, 85% are women farmers. The coop also runs its own washing station where the coffee fruit is delivered, then transformed into the dried seed that we roast. “Kinini” means, literally, ‘this big thing right here’. It is the name of the collaboration of cooperatives seeking to pool their efforts to improve their coffees. The founding of the Kinini co-op is a story about dreaming a new future, and the determination to make those dreams reality. The project was founded by Rwandan Jacquie Turner and her business partner, Malcolm Clear, who wanted to find a way to have generational impact on communities without having to continually fundraise money for aid projects.
What makes this coffee stand out
The Kinini Village Cooperative began because Jacquie Turner and Malcolm Clear wanted to start a school for children in Eastern Rwanda ten years ago. Driven by the desire to help the children of the genocide, they made that dream a reality. As they got to know that community, they realized that these children needed much more than just education, and consequently, they lobbied the local government and international donors to support the construction of a local pharmacy, micro-finance credit institution, and other services to support the community that supports these children. What these two have accomplished for that community would be more than enough for any of us to hang our hat on and rest on our laurels, but they were not satisfied. Jacquie wanted to do more to help her fellow Rwandans.
Pour over recipe:
Ratio: 18g coffee, 320g water | Grind: Medium | Water: 198F
0:00 80 g (bloom) 0:30 200 g 1:00 320 g 3:30 Target brew time
