Ikizere Women’s Group is a powerful community of female producers who grow coffee up to 2100MASL in Rwanda’s Northern Province. Many families in Rwanda are headed up by women who lost their male relatives during the Rwandan genocide. 3 decades on, these stigmatised women still struggle to achieve financial independence but have been offered training, social and financial support by Baho Coffee.

Once picked by the farmers and their families, Baho Coffee offers free collection and delivery to Muzo washing station, who oversee the full post harvest process from sorting to drying. This particular lot has undergone an experimental washed process that sees the pulped coffee cherry fermented for 48 hours in plastic barrels before being soaked to ensure thorough removal of the mucilage.

The final cup is ultra clean, and sweet with fig flavour. We’re going classic V60 for this one to pull out some complex black tea and grape tasting notes.

There are big incentives for coffee with ‘women-produced’ status, giving extra value to both producers and roasters while empowering other female producers to help shift the gender imbalance in the industry. Girls Who Grind’s commitment to roasting coffee exclusively from women producers is a big step towards parity and a great way for us to share more stories like the Ikizere Group’s.