Wednesday 16 July 2008

Coffee

These are some of Cathie's pictures, but they make a change from my everlasting snaps of schools or views! This is some of the very best coffee in the world. The beans are picked when they're red; each bean has to be picked individually so it's fiddly work. They then have to be washed, within an hour of picking. These pictures are from a washing station near Gasarenda in the extreme south mountains of Rwanda.
The red pulp is removed with high pressure hoses to leave the beans. each bean is the size of a big peanut and roughly the same colour. They don't smell anything like coffee until they're roasted.

A lot of the sorting and washing is done by schoolchildren either during holidays or at weekends. It's welcome extra pocket money in the poorest region of the country.

"Marabou" and "Bourbon" are the brand names of the very best Rwandan coffee.

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