Akagera Anaerobic Natural

Producers: 515 Smallholders --> Akagera Station
Origin: Ngoma Sector, Nyaruguru District, Southern Province, Rwanda
Elevation: 1600-1900 MASL
Variety: Red Bourbon
Process: Anaerobic Natural - 36 hour cherry fermentation
Roast Level: Light
Importer: Sundog Trading
Flavor Notes: Honeydew, Pluot, Plum Wine, Watermelon


It's that time of year! We're starting to roll out a series of bangers from our bud Ben of Sundog Trading and Emmanuel of Baho Coffee. This is our second full year sourcing with these gems and big ups to Ben for keeping Enjoy in mind! Super hyped to be rolling out a couple of lots for the second year as well as bring in some new new to the Enjoy fold including this debuting lot we have here. Let's dig in.

We figured to start out the season with a bang and so... pleased to introduce the Akagera Anaerobic Natural lot of Red Bourbon from the Akagera washing station. As told by Sundog Trading: Baho Coffee began managing the Akagera Station - set in between the beautiful Lake Kivu and Nyungwe National Forest - at the beginning of the 2020 season. This is Baho’s 2nd smallest station, with 515 farmers delivering cherry for a total of around 35,000 kg of green coffee each year.   

As is standard practice for Baho-owned stations - training, inputs, and substantial contributions towards health insurance premiums are provided for all farmers delivering. Each station has an agronomist on site that organizes training sessions focused on topics such as coffee plant care (fertilizing, pruning, harvesting, etc), importance of our traceability efforts, and environmental protection. Various inputs like fertilizers and new coffee seedlings are provided free of cost to all farmers. Baho is involved a step further here as well - helping farmers with transportation to gather materials and lending equipment or tools when necessary.

It has been truly awesome working with these coffees from Baho year on year and seeing the evolution of processing methods being applied to their lovely Red Bourbon canvas.  This is the first Anaerobic Natural we've pulled in from them and it's just melon-ville all day.  Continued from Sundog: With honey and natural processing slowly becoming more common in Rwanda, Emmanuel began experimenting with whole cherry fermentation techniques that could differentiate him within the specialty market. 

The initial steps for each process are the same:  First, a day of intensive sorting at the cherry stage, under complete shade, to ensure only the ripest are chosen and any visible defects are removed.  Step two is multiple rounds of floating - filling a large container with cherries and water, discarding the less dense cherries that float to the top of the tank. The top quality cherries are tightly packed into sealed plastic tanks where they are left to ferment, undisturbed and under shade for a set period of time.

The goal here is to create a unique environment in which the cherries have very limited interaction with oxygen, but the environment is technically not 100% free of oxygen during the entire process.  As fermentation takes place, carbon dioxide is released and progressively pushes oxygen out of the plastic tanks.  The particular environment created changes both the rate of fermentation and the specific yeast and bacteria present. In our personal sensory experience, we’ve found that the low oxygen whole cherry fermentations always promote high intensity and complexity of fruit flavors and sweetness in the coffee.

Once the fermentation period is complete, cherries are turned out onto raised drying beds for drying. Cherries are spread out in a single layer on the beds and turned frequently throughout the drying stage. Specifically for Baho’s anaerobic coffees, they utilize unique techniques to drastically stretch out the total drying times. For the first 5 - 10 days on the tables, cherries are completely covered with mesh netting during the daytime and opened to the cool air at night time. These steps are thought to alter the rate of drying in a way that promotes more fruit flavor and complexity in the final product. When the moisture content drops below 20%, cherries are opened to full sun drying. Weather conditions are closely monitored throughout the day, and if certain temperature thresholds are exceeded, workers will focus on turning coffee more frequently or cover the beds with mesh netting. When the moisture content reaches the target 11 %, the drying phase is then considered complete.  The dried cherry is bagged, labelled, and stored in a dry warehouse at Akagera until time for milling. Total drying time for this lot was 34 days.

The attention to detail throughout all Baho stations is notable and can be seen / tasted in the cup.  Additionally, the willingness to collect data from these more newer and 'experimental' methods gets me jazzed and eager to support.  The Akagera lot we have is nothing shy of explosive.  Massive melon notes, candied grape, slick body are some of the broad range attributes that drew us to this lot. 

As you open the bag you're hit with that big fruit / watermelon aromatics.  As you dig into the cup, the refreshing and sweet flavor of honeydew is the first to shine.  This sweetness is balanced out by a tart and tangy pluot-like acidity.  As the cup cools a plum wine-y vibe creeps up but remains 'clean' (read as - not boozy) alongside what I'd imagine a white grape jolly rancher to taste like (they should make those...).  

All in all, this is a stunning lot and a unique profile hailing from Rwanda.  This one will go quick, so secure the bag and get hyped for more Rwandan gems in the pipeline.