July's Roaster's Choice Coffee Box subscribers will be trying 'Shyira', both the smallest and youngest of the three coffee washing stations within the Muraho group in Rwanda.
After a long search for a location that would deliver genuinely unique Rwandan cup profiles the team settled on the Shyira site which is approximately a one hour drive from Musanze in the north-western corner of Rwanda. The Shyira hills adjoin the famous Volcanoes National Park - home to Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas.
Shyira’s small-scale is a deliberate choice to allow the washing station to focus on specialist and niche micro-lots for sale as single origins in European markets. The washing station receives cherries from neighbouring farms as high as 2400masl which is among the highest - if not the outright highest - coffee grown in Rwanda.