About the Producer

Tropic Coffee was started by husband-and-wife team Christophe Rugira and Divine Mutuyimana in 2015. Meeting in 2014, Divine was a fountain of coffee knowledge, being born into a family with a long history in coffee trade. Christophe was a complete coffee novice, but was excited to jump into the industry headfirst.

They now own and operate three washing stations: Gisanga in the South, Kabyiniro in the West and Cyato slightly more inland near the Nyungwe Forest, each processing coffee from neighbouring producers. One of their main focuses is training female farmers in the best agricultural practices - from seedling preparation, to planting and harvesting.

Coffee from Cyato washing station is grown in Nyungwe Forest and has a particularly distinctive profile due to the native honeybee population that pollinates the plants in the area. This lot is processed simply in the classic Natural process: cherries are sorted and floated in water at the station, before being dried on raised beds and turned regularly to avoid unwanted fermentation and mould.