Gitwe

Gitwe is a newly constructed washing station, located in Nyamasheke district, one of the regions with high concentration of coffee trees and washing stations. At a very high altitude, Gitwe is surrounded by hills covered by green coffee trees, and the volcanic soil off the shores of Lake Kivu, makes this coffee some of the finest in the country. There are 800 farmers in total who are delivering to the station and this year they are expecting to produce 3 containers in total.

When RTC purchased the station last year, the plan was to process high end specialty fully washed coffee and look to experiment with the station. Cherries delivered to Gitwe are then floated and separated to remove any defective cherries. The coffee is then placed on the raised African beds at about 2cm of thickness where it is dried for up to 30 days with regular turning each hour and covering during at night time.