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Single-Origin

Rwanda Sholi

$22.00
$22.00
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  • PRODUCER

    Sholi Cooperative

  • VARIETAL

    Bourbon

  • COUNTRY

    Rwanda

  • PROCESS

    Washed

  • REGION

    Muhanga District

  • ROAST LEVEL

    Medium-Light

  • ELEVATION

    1,800-2,000 masl

  • TASTING NOTES

    Lemon Zest, Plum Pudding

Abateraninkunga ba Sholi (“Sholi”) Cooperative, meaning “Mutual Assistance,” is located in Muhanga district, Southern Province, in the center of Rwanda, about halfway between Kigali and Lake Kivu. Established in 2008, Sholi has been producing coffee for nearly a decade, and the Cooperative’s name speaks to its members working together to improve both their coffee and the greater community. Sholi was borne out of a women’s association called “Kundwa”, which means “love” in Kinyarwanda. Today, over one-third of Sholi's 619 producers are women.

With the nearest health facility being over 18 km away on poor roads, in 2016 the Sholi Cooperative applied for and received a grant that funded the building of a health center within their community. This local health center includes a small pharmacy, room for basic first aid, a staffed nurse, family planning services, blood testing, and treatment for malaria, parasites, and respiratory infection. Additionally, the Sholi community has received grants from Café Feminino Foundation, a women and children’s nutrition program in the community, where children ages 2 to 5 who are identified as susceptible to malnutrition attend the program 4 days a week for 9 months and receive fortified porridge, learn simple counting and songs, and parents attend monthly educational meetings. They've also started a community transformation program for 70 young single mothers aged from 18-25, teaching them how to save, starting small savings and credit groups, and gifting them a collective coffee field. Any of the cherries sold to the cooperative from that field go directly to the women.

Despite facing climate change-related disasters, such as extreme flooding, hail damaging coffee flowering season, and unseasonable drought, Sholi has continued to invest in its long-term agriculture, and expanded from planting 18,000 trees in 2016 to 185,000 trees in 2022. The cooperative offers free Bourbon seedlings to members, and have a second, smaller washing station to accommodate members that live farther away from the main washing station.

Coffee processing at Sholi is similar to other coffee cooperatives in Rwanda. After coffee cherries are delivered to the washing station, the coffee is pulped. The lower grades (A3 and A4) are dried and sold to the local market. The two higher grades (A1 and A2) are dry-fermented for 12-18 hours, depending on the climate, then soaked. After soaking the wet parchment is hand-picked on covered raised beds for 24 hours (“pre drying”) before being moved to the drying beds, where they dry over 21-25 days depending on the weather.

Cost Transparency

At Broadcast, we believe that transparency is key to building authentic,  meaningful & sustainable relationships from seed to cup (along the supply chain). From coffee producers and import partners to our cafe team and amazing customers, our guiding value is to spread love and acceptance every step of the way. We source boutique coffees from family farms & coops. We purchase coffee equitably and value building relationships over profit. We are proud to share a snapshot of what this journey entails and insight into the industry at large.

Cost to Broadcast - $11.01

Green Cost - $5.65

The cost for green coffee is inherently complicated given the vastly diverse global nature of our industry.  Without context, green cost alone can have different meanings depending on the step at which money is transferred along with payment and contract terms. We have outlined various industry terms below to provide a framework for varying stages along the supply chain.   

Farm Gate: Price paid at farm level to producer or producer community 

FOT (Free on Truck): Price paid to exporter, after coffee has been processed and ready to be transferred to port for export.

FOB - Free on Board: Price paid to importer, at outbound port level.

EXW (Ex-warehouse): Price paid to importer at point of arrival at US warehouse

Transportation Cost - $0.16

This represents the cost we incurred while the coffee was moved from the producing country to our roastery in Seattle. Costs include shipping, holding, airfreight, trucking.

Additonally, we factor in the cost of shipping from our roastery to your door.

Production Cost - $5.04

This section outlines the costs associated with producing our coffee and getting it to the finish line for your enjoyment!

Fixed Costs:
These are the simple costs of having a business and running our roastery: Rent, utilities (gas, electric, water, internet, phone), business licenses etc. We recently installed a larger custom natural gas roaster allowing us to roast larger batches with further control to dial in the coffee with even more care & attention.

Packaging:
This includes everything that goes into packaging coffee to get from our roaster to your hands: recyclable bag, mailers, bulk shipping boxes, labels, and tape. We strive to create a beautiful aesthetic that matches the intended coffee experience while consistently keeping our environmental impact in mind.

Labor:
We are incredibly proud of our small hard-working team dedicated to our vision of spreading love through great coffee & hospitality. Our goal is to create a stable work environment by providing a living wage, PTO & health insurance . As a queer-owned business, we work to foster a community environment and are proud to provide a safe & inclusive space for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized individuals. We support & encourage creative individual pursuits. We provide light and bright cafe/roastery spaces to temper the Seattle rainy weather. We work really hard, make time for rest, and take care of each other.

Coffee Roasting:
During the roasting process, coffee loses between 10-15% of its weight due to moisture loss. This creates an inherent loss as soon as we transform green coffee into the roasted product we all love! In addition to this process, it takes test batches to dial in our roasting profile and ensure you’re receiving the best version.

Taxes:
Taxes are part of our world and we set aside money every quarter.

Storage & Finance - $0.16

Working with small importers means we sometimes need to cover more of their costs and that includes us covering the cost for holding coffee in storage facilities when we don’t have room at our facility. We also don’t pay for coffee until it’s released from storage, and are charged a finance fee for holding coffee. It’s also easier for us to pay for coffee with a credit card and credit card processing fees are passed onto us as well.

Fair Trade & C Market Cost - $1.80 | $3.06

Fair Trade:
Fairtrade is a global movement to help improve the lives of farmers and workers in developing countries by ensuring that they have access to export markets and are paid a fair price for their products. Fairtrade aims to give farmers stability in this unpredictable environment by offering a Fairtrade Minimum Price, which protects them from sudden price drops. Coffee farmers also receive a Fairtrade Premium - an extra sum of money paid on top of the selling price that farmers and workers invest in business or community projects of their choice. A set portion of the Fairtrade Premium goes toward improving production or quality.

C Market:
The C Market is the global commodity exchange, similar to a stock exchange, where both the physical trade of green Arabica coffee and the trade of coffee futures contracts occurs. The C Market provides a global benchmark price for coffee. While other factors influence the final price that buyers pay for coffee, the fact there is a price reference is essential. Without the C price as a benchmark, determining the price of coffee on a global scale would be very difficult.

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