Rwanda Sholi Co-op

Abateraninkunga ba Sholi (“Sholi”) Cooperative, meaning “Mutual Assistance,” is located in Muhanga district, Southern Province. Established in 2008, Sholi was born out of a women’s association called “Kundwa”, which means “love” in Kinyarwanda. Today, nearly half of Sholi’s members are women, including two of the five board members. In addition to coffee trees at the farm level, the women’s association has two communal plots for harvesting and producing coffee. The first site has 2,356 trees, and the second 3,960 trees (as of Feb 2021).

For natural process coffees, Sholi selects and identifies the highest-quality cherries that arrive at the central washing station. The cherries are sorted again, floated, and moved to the drying tables. After three or four days, they cover the dried cherries for 24-30 hours to develop the flavor. The cherries are monitored and continue to dry up to 30-35 days depending on the weather.