HE NEW SINGLE ESTATE COFFEE IS A WOMAN’S CASE
Rwanda Gisanga: This is the new Single Estate now available at your local Coffee Island and you can now taste it to travel to the other side of the world with a sip. After Ethiopia Guji, your journey into the world of specialty coffee continues with a coffee that has the scent of a woman and invites you to show your support for women in need.
RWANDA GISANAGA HISTORY
The new Rwanda Gisanga carries another story unfolding as you enjoy its flavor. This story is dedicated to International Women’s Day and is about those women living far away from us who are still struggling to achieve what they deserve. In Rwanda, where the unique 100% specialty Arabica red bourbon grows, 45% of the coffee planters are women. This percentage is a great achievement that can serve as example for our continent. Note that we are talking about regions where nothing is taken for granted and where the position of women is very different from what we recognise in our own societies.
OUR INSPIRATION, THE DEDICATION TO WOMEN PRODUCERS
Gisanga coffee is the result of the efforts of Divine, who comes from a family of producers and whose vision is to empower women, and Chris, who has worked alongside the growers as climate change advisor. Both encourage Rwandan women to work in coffee farming and help empower them by ensuring equal treatment, stable income, security and education. It already sounds like the description of a movie plot, but the reality on that side of the planet is something along these lines, and Coffee Island tells it to you through its new Single Estate.
Through the cultivation of coffee, not only do women farmers ensure a better quality of life but also they set an example for the use of organic methods and promote sustainability. Rwanda Gisanga coffee is produced in the Mbuye sector of the Ruhango district located in the southern province of Rwanda. This area located at an altitude of 1650m above sea level, in the Nile-Congo mountains, is an invaluable place where red bourbon variety cherries grow.
The precious trees are planted in rows spaced to allow good ventilation and enough sunlight to grow and produce their fine fruit, while shade trees protect the young saplings. As for fertilizer, this is for the most part composted banana leaves, rice grains and any other product that could be used in this way – while earthworms are duly utilized to provide the land with the nutrients needed. Primitive, efficient and certainly sustainable, this type of farming demonstrates the power of nature and plays a key role in the qualitative superiority of the coffee.
The fruits harvested between March and July have a reddish red colour, the sweetness of honey and a jasmine flavour with hints of berries. Their journey begins with wet processing (naturally done by hand), the selection of the best ones and drying on benches, under the sun. All this is done with the care of women’s hands, who play a leading role at every stage of the process. In fact, Divine’s Tropic Coffee organization ensures that the amount of coffee grown by the women is segregated and the profits from its sale go back into supporting the women’s community, ensuring their access to education and health and, more generally, the right to life itself.
A COFFEE TO JOIN THE EFFORT
Coffee Island honours these women with Rwanda Gisanga coffee and once again shows commitment to its values: respect for people by creating conditions of prosperity, security and equal rights for all in a better world. This new Single Estate coffee, with its unique cherry molasses and mandarin flavour, will take you to the other side of the world and introduce you to a group of women who grow it with smiles on their faces. As you stand in front of the Single Estate stand and choose the new can of precious beans, you are not only thinking of them, but actively supporting Coffee Island initiatives. It is good to know that your favorite habit brings smiles to another part of the planet.