Region: Rutsiro District, Western Province
Town: Rubavu
Altitude: 2,000 metres above sea level
Variety: 100% Bourbon
Processing: Fully washed and sun dried on raised screens
Farm: Over 4,000 smallholder farmers deliver to Kinunu washing station
Owner: SOCOR (Kubwimana family and investors)

In the cup: Transparent and very clean with refined raspberry sweetness and delicate citric acidity. Notes of mandarin, jasmine and berries.

Kinunu washing station lies on the shores of Lake Kivu, a large 'inland sea' along Rwanda's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a magical place, with Bourbon coffee trees growing down steep, fertile hills right to the shore of the lake (whose surface elevation is 1460m).

Kinunu is one of two washing stations owned by SOCOR ltd. This privately owned business was founded by the local Kubwimana family, who have recently partnered with a Kigali-based specialty coffee investment company. This well-run and quality focused organisation is helping to manage and improve the quality of coffee processed at the family's washing stations.

Kinunu buys cherries from over 4,000 farmers who live and grow coffee near the washing station and also has partnerships with several local cooperatives and farmers' associations. Almost all of these farms are very small - typically less than a hectare of land each, which farmers use to produce both coffee and subsistence food crops to feed their families. The ripe cherries are then delivered to the washing station in a multitude of ways - in baskets on farmers' heads, on bicycles, in trucks and even by boat.

At Kinunu cherries are carefully hand sorted before going through the wet mill and fermentation/soaking tanks. The washed beans are dried in the sun on raised screens ('African beds') overlooking the lake, and sorted again several times prior to milling.

Unlike almost all other washing stations in Rwanda, SOCOR has its own dry mill on site at Kinunu and do does not have to rely on a central mill in Kigali (the capital - where mills are traditionally located). This means that SOCOR can oversee the whole supply chain - and so can ensure that it has full control of the quality process from farm to export. As part of this process, SOCOR's quality control team - some of whom have participated as jurors in several Cup of Excellence competitions - cups lots daily to ensure quality and consistency.

In the 2011 season SOCOR employed over 1400 staff - 90% of whom are women. The organisation has also hired a fulltime agronomist, who is training local farmers on best practices in coffee farming, with the aim of increasing both yield and quality.

SOCOR has recently helped to build a secondary school in the area where their farmers are located and, with other partners, has also built a playground at the same school.