Juru Coffee Rulindo
NAEB
Mib02
This lot was grown at Juru Coffee’s Rulindo station in
Cyinzuzi Sector, Rulindo District, Northern Province, on a
nine-hectare demonstration estate situated between 1,800 and 1,950
metres above sea level. The volcanic soils and high rainfall of
these northern highlands, together with cool nights and slow cherry
maturation, give coffee from this hillside its sweetness and
floral, stone-fruit character.
Juru’s Mibirizi block holds 7,055 trees, of which 1,875 have
now come into production, and this lot is drawn from that first
bearing. Only deep-red, ripe cherries were selectively picked and
delivered to the station on the same day. They were floated to
remove defective fruit, pulped, fermented under controlled
conditions, washed with fresh spring water, and dried slowly on
raised beds with regular turning. This fully washed preparation was
chosen to highlight the variety’s clarity and large-bean
sweetness.
General Information
About the Farm
Juru Coffee Ltd was founded in 2009 by Leonard Karasi, who
planted a fifteen-hectare coffee farm in the community where he was
born, in Juru Cell, Gahini Sector, Kayonza District. The name it
carries says something about its ambition: in Kinyarwanda, juru
means sky, or heaven.
In 2019, Juru expanded north, opening a second station on nine
hectares in Rulindo District. The two estates now work with 3,400
coffee farmers 1,200 around Kayonza and 2,200 around Rulindo and
the company’s own land exists mainly to serve as a learning
platform. Juru supplies its farmers with quality seedlings,
demonstrates planting and tree care on its estates, buys their
cherries, and processes them at its own washing stations, keeping
the coffee traceable from the hill to export.
Mibirizi is the newest chapter. Juru has established 7,055 Mibirizi
trees, of which 1,875 have started producing, making it one of the
first estates in the country to grow Rwanda’s oldest Arabica
variety at this scale. The Rulindo hillsides volcanic, wet, and
high are among the best places in Rwanda to find out what the
variety can do.
Rulindo has already shown what it is capable of, placing second
nationally at Best of Rwanda 2024. Reaching the Mibirizi category
with a lot from trees that are only now coming into production is,
for the Juru team and the farmers around them, an early sign that
the investment in this variety was the right one.
