Bold Bean Burundi Nyagishiru - Natural Process

Vunga is a tiny, but well-known, washing station that sits in the steep hills of the Nyabihu District near the borders of Uganda to the North and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the West.

Vunga is a woman-owned and managed washing station founded by Daphrose Uwimana in 2009.  Since its foundation, Daphrose has created a close-knit community of women producers in the area through her mentorship and quality-focused management of the Vunga station.  Over the past 15 years, Vunga has developed a great reputation for super high-quality Rwandan coffees and has placed highly numerous times in the Rwandan Cup of Excellence.

When she founded the washing station, Daphrose saw a growing challenge for the survival of specialty coffee in the area. Like in many coffee producing areas, youth were not interested in becoming coffee farmers. In an effort to keep the tradition alive, Daphrose invested money she made from coffee to purchase land with the plan to teach youth in her community about coffee farming.

For the future, Daphrose hopes to continue raising the quality of coffee in the area in order to ensure coffee production is a sustainable business model.  Thus, inspiring the youth to enter the coffee sector and continue growing world-class specialty coffee.