ABA SHOLI

FLAVOUR PROFILE

TROPICAL, JUICY & BOOZY - PIÑA COLADA, APPLE JUICE, STRAWBERRY, GUMMY SWEETS

ORIGIN

CYEZA SECTOR, MUHANGA DISTRICT, RWANDA

FARM

ABA SHOLI CO-OP

FARMER

SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

PROCESS

ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION NATURAL

VARIETY

BOURBON

MASL

1800-2000

The Abateraninkunga Ba Sholi Co-operative (Aba Sholi Co-op for short) is located in Cyeza, Muhanga District, in central Rwanda. Sholi was founded in 2008 by thirty women who lived and grew coffee in the region, as a conscious effort to revive the local economy. At the time coffee was only a small part of the association and there was no profitable market for cherries, because there was no washing station in the area. That changed two years later, when the association’s mission shifted and it gradually became a cooperative. It grew every year with new members, and in 2014 Aba Sholi opened its own washing station.

“Abateraninkunga” is a Kinyarwanda word meaning “mutual help” and captures their value of supporting more farmers. Today the cooperative has 610 producers, many of them women, growing coffee at 1,800 to 2,000 masl. It became Fair Trade certified in 2015, the same year it won a Rwanda Cup of Excellence award. The cooperative owns a central washing station where members can deliver their cherries for processing.