Rwanda - Dukorere Umarava Lot 17 | Anaerobic Natural

About the Coffee

Nova Coffee was founded by Agnes Mukamushinja and Felix Hitayezu, a nurse and pharmacist who previously ran Pharmacie Nova in Kigali. They entered coffee in 2015 with a specific goal: improve farmer livelihoods through better farming practices. Their first move was purchasing an aging washing station in Bukure, in Rwanda's Northern Province, and rebuilding it into a working hub for the smallholders nearby. The station now receives cherry from farmers adjacent to the station and from three cooperatives: Jyambere Muhinzi Wakawa, Dukorere Kawa, and Berwa.

This lot comes from the Umurava farmers group, a subset of 32 producers (8 women and 24 men) operating within the Dukorere Kawa cooperative. "Umurava" means "determined" in Kinyarwanda. Their farms sit between 1,800 and 2,200 meters above sea level in the Northern Province. The coffee is processed as an anaerobic natural, meaning the cherries ferment whole in a sealed, oxygen-free environment before being dried, which concentrates the fruit character and slows the process in a controlled way.

Agnes's connection to coffee runs deeper than the business. Her father spent decades working as an agronomist, and the station in Bukure is tied to her home village. After establishing Nova Coffee, she pursued government training programs, worked within Rwanda's NAEB framework, and joined the local IWCA chapter. One project that came out of that work is Le Café de Mamans, a coffee produced with 263 women farmers from the Berwa Cooperative and sold domestically in Rwanda. Back at the station, QC manager Celeste oversees processing and drying alongside a full-time agronomist and experienced operations staff.