Muzo - Janja Hill

CO-OP: Muzo

LOCATION: Janja Hill, Gakenke, Rwanda

ALTITUDE: 1800-2100 MASL

VARIETY: Red Bourbon

PROCESSES: Washed

Tasting Notes: Pear, Nougat, Limeade, Juicy

Muzo is nestled in the rolling hills near the heart of Rwanda, about a 2 hour drive North West of the capital city. There are drastically fewer stations in this remote area of the country in comparison to famously populated districts like those immediately surrounding Lake Kivu. Nonetheless, competition remains fierce, as the Gakenke District has garnered the attention of more strictly specialty-focused stations.

Muzo is the smallest in the Baho collection, and it is very near and dear to Emmanuel as the source of some of his most prized coffees. With only 496 producers delivering, Muzo’s annual production of exportable grade coffee usually numbers just under a full container load at around 300 60kg bags.  With altitudes topping out at 2000+ masl, it’s no surprise why coffees that come through this station are some of the most dynamic that we taste each season. 

As one of the more intensely mountainous regions of Rwanda, many farmers are located in areas that make the journey to deliver cherry particularly strenuous. To assist people living in these highest altitude and hardest-to-travel places, Baho has established a free collection service for Muzo. Producers are still given full price for cherry, and Baho takes on the extra costs associated with a station leader driving around to collect coffee at people’s homes.

As is standard practice for Baho-owned stations - training, inputs , and substantial contributions towards health insurance premiums are provided for all farmers delivering. Furthermore, each station has an agronomist on site that organizes training sessions focused on topics such as coffee plant care (planting, fertilizing, pruning, harvesting, etc), environmental protection, and importance of our traceability efforts. Various inputs like fertilizers and new coffee seedlings are provided free of cost to all farmers. Baho is involved a step further here as well - helping farmers with transportation to gather materials and lending tools/equipment when necessary. 

The Janja Hill lot is a part of Baho’s ongoing appellation project surrounding the Muzo Station. They’re focusing on smaller lot separations by processing groups of farmers’ coffee together based on the highest quality growing areas. The hills are often originally chosen simply based on altitude; coffees within the Janja Hill lot are all harvested from farms above 1900 masl and pack a distinct vibrancy and saturation of flavor.