Maraba Sovu (pronounced “ma-rah-bah so-voo”) is among the four coffee washing stations owned by the Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa Maraba Cooperative, we know as “Maraba”. With over a thousand members, they have three more coffee washing stations. Kibingo, Kabuye, and Cyarumbu. Around 400 farmers who supply cherry to Sovu Washing Station, the smallest of the four.
Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa means ‘Together we work the coffee’. Both our co-founders Steven and Jeremy have been involved with this cooperative since it’s establishment in 2001. In the wake of the devastating 1994 genocide, coffee has become a symbol of progress and hope in the community.
Farmers own very little coffee plots, with often no more than 500 coffee trees, by selling their coffee to Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa Maraba, these small-scale farmers can combine their harvests into large enough quantities for export and process cherries centrally.
The Sovu Coffee Washing Station was constructed in 2005 and coffee from Sovu has won various awards in the past, including the prestigious Cup of Excellence Award.
Coffee washing stations, as the name suggest normally focus on washed coffees, the coffee cherry gets removed from its outer skin, and subsequently undergoes a fermentation process to dissolve the mucilage on the bean, after that the coffee is washed and sundried.
June 04, 2020
