Rwanda, Shyira, Washed

  • €15,50
Roast: Omni
Weight: 250 g

Description

Producer
Shyira Washing Station
Region
Nyabihu District, Rwanda
Variety
Red Bourbon
Altitude
1500 - 2000 masl
Process
Washed
Flavour
Black Grape, Mint, Cane Sugar, Juicy
Importer
Raw Material


Back for a third year, this beautiful washed lot from the Shyira washing station is even more delicious than ever! Complex, sweet and super juicy! 

The Shyira washing station in the Nyabihu district of Rwanda is the little baby of Muraho Trading's 6 stations. It is also their highest station, collecting cherry from as high as 2000-2300masl. 

We buy this coffee from Raw Material, who pay an average of 2,57$/kg farm gate to their partner farmers in Rwanda, of which 1,48$/kg is farmer profit. The FOB after wet and dry milling costs and all export costs comes to 6,55$/kg. This is just the average for all of the different lots they buy through Muraho. We paid an Ex-Works, delivered total of 11,30€/kg for this coffee. 


We sell all our coffee as whole beans to preserve their freshness and to allow you to grind the coffee to suit your preferred brew method.

However, if you'd like to request that your beans are ground before we ship them to you, please add a comment on the checkout specifying the brew method that the beans should be ground for.

Brew methods:

  • Pourover
  • Filter Machine
  • Aeropress
  • Bialetti
  • Espresso Machine
  • French Press

How We Buy Our Coffees

At Café Blá we believe in being as transparent as possible about the way we source our coffee. 
Seeing as we're (right now) a pretty small operation, having direct trade partner is, in our opinion, not a sustainable buying practise. It doesn't help farmers to have direct partners who are only able to contract a couple of sacks per year. 
Instead we have built relationships with a few importers, whose trading philosophies we respect. A big part of what we look for in our green coffee partners is importers who are involved in social initiatives at origin and are committed to making sure the farmers are getting fair prices for their beans. They are, after all, the most important people in the whole of the coffee supply chain.
This is one of the reasons for our motto of "drink coffee, ask questions." We're an open book and will always go out of our way to explain our choices regarding our coffee buying practises. 
The entire supply chain is built on colonialism and needs to be changed. We as a micro-roaster can only do our part in trying to also constantly question why and continue learning from the people who are out there trying to make a more positive impact for the farmers and seasonal workers who make it possible for us to drink coffee every day. 
The importers we currently work with are:

Raw Material

Raw Material are a Community Interest Company based in the UK, meaning that 100% of profits are put to work to create economic freedom for those coffee producers who are most marginalised. Driven by social objectives, the guys at Raw Material are set on bringing real change to the people who matter most! All of our coffees from Rwanda, Burundi, Timor-Leste, Colombia and Mexico are bought through Raw Material because they don't just do great social work, they also have some of the most delicious coffees out there!!!

 

Planting Costa Rica

Nico from Planting Costa Rica actually used to be a barista at Café Blá! Now he's importing amazing coffees from his native Costa Rica. Through his successful 2017 crowdfunding campaign, he was able to start addressing the socio-economic gap, helping small producers wanting to move into speciality growing and processing practises modernise and improve quality. We have been following the progress from the beginning, buying lots from El Bueyerito every year. The progress made in terms of quality has been amazing! Now with a wide and exciting range of partner farms, we are really excited to continue buying our Costa Rican lots from Nico. In March '23 I was lucky enough to be able to go to Costa Rica with Nico and Fatima and meet all of the producers we have been buying from and more! Costa Rica is a wonderfully green country, with a lot of positive green initiatives and government agencies helping keep the coffee trade fair for those who are most important, namely the farmers. 

 

Café Blá is owned by Jacob Henry-Foord and Alexander Vits. Jacob is head roaster for Vits der Kaffee, Alex's roastery and café. 

When Stephanie made the decision to sell Café Blá, for whom we have been roasting the coffee since its opening in 2016, I (Jacob) approached Alex with the idea of taking on the café as a joint venture, specifically with the idea of moving the Vits third wave coffee selection over to the Blá brand, thus creating a new sub-brand from Vits. 

So as not to confuse the loyal Vits customers, we decided to add the tagline "Powered by Vits.coffee," seeing as the coffees are roasted in the Vits roastery by the Vits head-roaster, who also just happens to be co-owner and CEO of Café Blá.

Confused? We hope not! 

Put in short: Café Blá coffee is sourced and roasted by Jacob in the Vits roastery.