Rwanda Shuli Coffee Bean Story Rwanda Shuli Cooperative Coffee Is It Worth Drinking

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The Abateraninkunga ba Sholi ("Sholi") cooperative, meaning "mutual aid", is located in the southern province of Muhanga disctrict, between Kigali and Lake Kivu. Sholi Coffee Company was founded in 2008 and has been producing coffee for nearly 10 years. The name of the Sholi Coffee Cooperative is an encouragement to its members who work together to improve the quality of their coffee and improve the community environment. Xiao Li was born in a women's organization called Kundawa, which means "love" in Kinyarwanda. Fair Trade Certification in 2015 and Rainforest Alliance Certification in 2016. In 2017, Atlas imported Sholi goods to the United States for the first time in 2018, and we are pleased to bring more of their delicious coffee.

Nearly half of Sholi's 386members are women, including two of the five board members. In 2016, Sholi received a grant to build community centres and regional health centres to serve members and local residents. During a visit in 2018, we visited regional health centres and met with several staff to learn about their valuable services to remote areas. The nearest large health facility is 18 kilometers away and the roads are poor, and they can provide blood tests and treatment for Malaria disease, parasites, respiratory infections and basic first aid. Head nurse Betty and four other staff hope to launch a nutrition and cooking programme to address early childhood malnutrition (under the age of 5) and to establish public health partnerships with other clinics in the area.

Sholi has planted more than 400,000 trees and continues to invest in its long-term agriculture, planting 18000 trees in 2016 and another 30, 000 by the end of 2017. Sholi's coffee processing is similar to other coffee cooperatives in Rwanda, although each cooperative has some small differences. After the coffee fruit is sent to the washing station, grind the coffee into pulp, dry fermentation for 18-24 hours, and then rinse clean. A4 (minimum grade) is dried and sold to the local market. The three higher grades (A1, 2, 3) were soaked for another 24 hours before washing. Wet parchment is hand-selected with a lid to get up and then transferred to a drying bed.

Shawley coffee has the strongest citrus acidity we have ever seen in the Great Lakes countries, with ruby grapefruit and juicy blood oranges. The layers of mango, orange and BlackBerry are balanced by honey and lavender. We are very happy to bring Sholi coffee to our big family in Rwanda. I hope you like it, too!

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