Cyesha is a washing station located in Nyamasheke District, close to the shores of Lake Kivu. The coffee of this area grows on volcanic soils, a highly fertile medium for the cultivation of high-quality red bourbon cherries. This season Cyesha’s staff produced 300 metric tonnes of exportable coffee. Their team is comprised of four permanent staff, five seasonal staff, and ninety casual labourers for the high season.

The station purchases cherry from a total of 470 coffee producers, one quarter of which are female. These producers harvest their crops between February and May, and the continuous processing of these lots follows the same time period. Dry milling and bagging continues until early July, when the coffees are ready for export. 

Currently producers face two large hurdles to increasing their production yields; the high price of fertilisers, and ageing coffee trees. In spite of these issues, Cyesha redistributes a nutrient-rich organic compost which is created by combining coffee pulp discarded during processing with grass cuttings.

Their goal is to continue increasing the volumes they purchase from producers, whilst assisting them in increasing their yields, ensuring they can maximise the profits their land can produce for them. To do so, fifty thousand new seedlings will be distributed every year, alongside rejuvenating techniques applied to old trees such as pruning and stumping.

For this natural processed coffee, all cherry is hand-sorted before floating, when under ripe or damaged cherry is removed. Once the cherry is sorted and cleaned, it is ready to be dried. The cherries are laid out evenly across raised beds, providing consistent airflow, and height, to prevent moisture and animals coming into contact with the cherry. 

The cherry is dried for 50 days, turned constantly when the sun is high and covered during the night. The dried fruit encasing the beans is removed, processed at the dry mill to the required exportation standards, and the coffee beans are ready to be organised for packing.