Fugi Urubyiruko

Story

Our natural processed Rwanda this year is another stunning selection from the beloved Fugi station <3.  Over the past few years, coffees from Fugi have quickly become a favorite of ours in the Baho network and a yearly staple on our menu. 

Located in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Fugi is nestled between the Nyungwe National Forest and the border of Burundi. The station was constructed in 2013, but it was purchased by Emmanuel in 2016.  Since then, he’s dedicated Fugi to solely producing specialty grade coffee, and it was an integral part of the foundation upon which he launched the Baho Coffee operations.  It’s the third smallest station in the Baho collection, purchasing cherries from approximately 950 smallholders in total.

Meaning youth in Kinyarwanda, Urubyiruko is a newer lot separation that began during the 2022 harvest, and it’s a project that we’re incredibly thrilled to be supporting again for the second time! The creation of this group is a direct investment towards the future of coffee in Rwanda, as it’s composed of farmers that are all under the age of 35 and new to coffee growing. Emmanuel’s goal is to inspire a younger generation to invest in the coffee sector and dedicate themselves to working in tandem with Baho Coffee. 

Emmanuel shares: In Rwanda, we have a challenge with coffee being grown by adults, which could have a negative impact on coffee disappearing, which is why Baha are starting to encourage young people to get into coffee plantation where we intervene in helping them to get coffee seedlings, inputs such as organic and chemical fertilizers, shade trees distribution, good price and bonus payment, and we trained them on crop rotation where we encourage them to cultivate other crops friendly with coffee such fruits and crop with high nitrogen. The relationship is really good. The Youth can see what we are doing, changes we are creating and are excited about the future and what we can achieve together. We are also happy that the youth can understand our direction and vision. We are committed to keep building relationships with youth as the future of coffee plantations.

This year’s natural offering from Fugi Urubyiruko hits all of the marks - high flavor intensity, big body, lots of sweetness, and juicy acidity.  Thanks to an added cherry fermentation step (more on that in the processing section), it’s showcasing a particularly dense, jammy, wine-like flavor profile. We’re tasting: mulled wine, wildberry poptart, cranberry, pomegranate, lime, spiced rum, date, coconut, dark brown sugar, sugarcane, black tea.