The Kirorero washing station serves about 2012 smallholder producers in the areas of Boneza and Musasa, about 800 of whom are women farmers. It is run by Coopérative pour la Promotion des Activités Café or COOPAC. This washing station is remote, only accessible by boat after an hour-and-a-half drive down the lake. Tucked in the steep walls of the Gasuma valley right at lake level, Kirorero receives coffee from 1511 farmers. Some coffee arrives by boat and the rest on foot or bicycle, since they do not have direct access via road. This of course means that all processed coffee must be consolidated and make the journey up the lake by boat to Nyamwenda CWS where it’s trucked out to the main access point.
Remote but beautiful, Kirorero is a great example of COOPACs mission to collaborate with farmers to enhance their quality of life and well-being. The growers are organized into two first-tier cooperatives: KOTWIBAKABO and COPROCUCAMU.
COOPAC is a Fair Trade–certified cooperative located near Lake Kivu on the steep slopes of volcanic mountains. The organization was founded by Emmanuel Rwakagara, who is the president of COOPAC as well as the owner of the Gishamwana Island coffee estate. COOPAC began with 110 farmers in April 2001 and currently has 8,000 members contributing coffee from Ack, Ubuzima, Tuzamurane, Kopabm, Abakundakurima, and Abanyamurava. With 6 washing stations along the northern landscape of Lake Kivu, COOPAC exports 150 containers of Fair Trade-certified coffee annually.
COOPAC is committed to environmental and social sustainability in addition to producing high-quality coffee. Waste by-products from processing are used as fertilizer rather than discarded into the lake, and shade trees are distributed to farmers to prevent soil erosion. COOPAC has assisted in the construction of a school, healthcare clinics, and roads and bridges in the community. The cooperative also has a program to distribute cows and goats to the most productive farmers and provides farmers with an agricultural advisor to teach the latest production methods.
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Ethical, traceable sourcing
This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.
The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.
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Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach
Fresh harvest coffee
We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.
Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)
Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.
Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.
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Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach
Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast
The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.
But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.
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Our recommended brewing window
Try our custom brewing recipes
Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.
For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:
- Dose: 20g ground coffee
- Yield: 60g espresso
- Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds
This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.
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Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator
Packaging and sustainability
- Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
- Labels: recyclable
- Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
- Box and tape (online orders): recyclable
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Our packaging