Monday, April 18, 2011

Maraba Coffee Co-Operative

Day 2!

We drove out towards Butare and visited the Cyarumbo Coffee Washing Station. Unfortunately, they will begin harvesting coffee beans in the next week or two so we missed the actual process. It was still cool to imagine all those yummy coffee beans floating through the process.

The beans grown in this part of the country and processed here were ranked 2nd in the world by a US study. They are sold throughout the UK and US...even at Starbucks! Yum!

Coffee Tree
Coffee Beans! They remove 2 layers of shell to get to the actual bean.
First the beans are sorted out on these tables to remove any bad beans.
After soaking in a huge tub for several hours, they come down through these machines that remove the shells.
Then the beans float down this "lazy river" the the soaking pools.
The beans soak in these tubs for 24-48 hours.
They are then placed in the sun on these tables to dry.



No comments:

Post a Comment