In 1973, Celestin Rumenerangabo left home at the age of fourteen to find work supporting his family after they were displaced by political violence. Three years later, taking the money he earned as a domestic worker in Kigali, he returned home to buy a parcel of land, plant 380 coffee trees, and formally enter the coffee trade. Celestin sold coffee while his mother managed the farm, and when he married Marie Goretti in 1983, the couple teamed up together to grow the coffee business. As a family, they have maintained not only a farm and two washing stations—Muhororo and Gasharu—but a community-driven enterprise that has survived decades of political strife.
We obtained this coffee through Hacea Coffee Source, which connected us with the Rumenerangabos as well as the Rugori Women’s Crown Program, which helps spotlight the (majority women) farmers involved in producing these coffees. In addition to supporting and highlighting these women’s innovations in the coffee market, the program also provides healthcare, childcare, coffee seedlings, and livestock for families who work at the Muhororo washing station, with similar benefits planned for the Gasharu station.
This coffee is grown at high altitude in the area near Lake Kivu and Nyungwe National Park, within a steady, cloudy climate beneficial to quality coffee growth. It is the labor of more than 200 families who deliver to the Muhororo washing station, where coffee cherries are density-sorted in flotation tanks and then dried on raised beds for 4–6 weeks with constant rotation. The end result is a cup we find full of cool fruit flavors, fresh berry sweetness, and genuine social impact. It is an honor to share this coffee as an Emerald Micro Lots decaf.
