Congo Katana Station Natural process
Peach/ Lime/ Cacao
"Abnormal Offerings for Coffee Lovers."
The Skeleton Key Series is a new set of small batch single origin offerings from Brass Ring Coffee. These are coffees that we find to be special or "abnormal" in some way or another. Some of these coffees may come from special farms, use experimental processing techniques, unique typicas, or just have an extremely special flavor or character. You can always count on a Skeleton Key coffee to transport you to somewhere special when you close your eyes to take the the first sip.
$16.75 for 12 oz.
$21 for 1 lb.
Wholesale pricing available (Contact us for pricing)
This is an organic certified, natural-processed, grade 3 lot from smallholder farmers in Kivu, a coffee region on the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This coffee was produced by Virunga Coffee Company, an Olam operation that operates 7 washing stations in Kivu on the outskirts of the Virunga National Park. The region has excellent conditions for specialty arabica production with plentiful rainfall, high altitude and highly fertile volcanic soils. A lovely, crisp, and clean, not overly fruity natural processed.
THE PRODUCERS
Virunga Coffee Company was established in 2011 by Schluter SA (now Olam Specialty Coffee Europe) with the vision to: “Change lives in DRC through commerce in a mutually profitable way by being a major coffee actor in Kivu.”
Virunga Coffee aims to achieve this vision by improving the quality and yields for farmers in North and South Kivu, primarily through:
– Developing and implementing field-based support activities
– Introducing Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
– Investing in processing infrastructure
– Organizing assured organic production in close collaboration with over 2,300 farmers (with a further 1,500 by June 2020)
– Bringing an innovative spirit to the development of new products
As well as providing a stable supply chain and specialty market access, Virunga is actively involved in a number of sustainability and social programs in farming communities. These include an extensive tree planting program, disease prevention outreach to tackle critical diseases such as Ebola and HIV, and equipment to help farmers improve their agronomic practices.
THE PROCESS
Ripe cherries are delivered to the washing station for sorting and flotation to select only the ripest for processing. The cherries are de-pulped using a Penagos eco-pulper, fermented for 18-24 hours and then washed in clean water grading channels. Once thoroughly washed the parchment coffee is dried in the sun on raised African beds for 12-18 days, depending on climatic conditions.
In the daytime the parchment needs to be raked and turned periodically to ensure a consistent drying process and prevent mold or over-fermentation. The coffee is also covered in the middle of the day to protect it from the hot sun, and at night to protect it from rainfall and condensation. Once the coffee has dried to the right level it is transported to Butembo for dry-milling, grading, sorting and handpicking (triage), before being bagged in GrainPro for export.
THE REGION
Hutwe village is located in the Kirumba region of Nord-Kivu (North of Lake Kivu), on the edge of Virunga National Park, bordered by Uganda to the east. The region has excellent conditions for specialty arabica production with plentiful rainfall, high altitude and highly fertile volcanic soils. The region is also very poverty-stricken and has had a severe lack of infrastructure which has made high quality arabica both difficult to produce and very challenging to export. Virunga Coffee Company has sought to overcome many of these problems through hands-on farmer education and investment in local infrastructure such as roads and bridges. This has allowed quality improvements every season and, in turn, higher premiums for farmers.
If you live in the Iowa City area (IC, Coralville, or North Liberty), use coupon code ICFREE to waive the shipping fee and get free local delivery on orders over $20 (free deliveries are made on Fridays).