Rwanda, Kageyo

Coffee can be roasted better, brewed better and, most importantly, it can be sourced in a way that makes lives better.

The Kageyo washing station is located in the Kageyo sector in Rwanda's Western Province, in the Ngororero District. The station itself is around 15km outside of the small Ngororero Town.

At 2013 metres, the station covers a tiny area of just 1.3ha. Built in 2009, RTC took over the management of Kageyo in 2013.Today the management is overseen by Jean de Dieu Iyamuremye with 6 full time staff the year round and around 80 seasonal staff during the harvest months.

1540 smallholders contributed coffee to 2022's production. in the first year of production, the station was doing around 100 mt of cherry, that has since doubled with the help of RTC's Agribusiness training programme, of which all farmers in the area are members.

Kageyo  is also the name of the hill where the washing station seats, and just a few meters from the station, there is a historical site where the King of Rwanda had built a palace as one of the places he would stay if he was visiting the region. The first European, a German Count Von Gotzen who arrived in Rwanda in late 19th century, travelled all the way to Kageyo to meet Rwabugiri, the king of Rwanda at the time. The high elevation and good rain fall of this historical place, couple with fertile volcanic soil make it one of the best places to produce a great cup of coffee.