Our Owner's Visit to Rwanda

When you look at your cup of coffee what do you see? Do you hear the commitment of the person who took the financial risk to purchase the land? Do you smell the sunlight and water that it took to cultivate the coffee plant? Do you feel the hand that picked each coffee cherry and individually selected only the quality beans for your coffee? Your coffee is more than you see in your cup.

Relationships with coffee importers, taking time to know the coffee’s origins, and being intentional about how it is served is a commitment Indie Coffee Roasters makes when deciding where your coffee travels from. This past December I had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda to visit the Gasharu family coffee farm. My son Ethan had just finished an internship to raise awareness and sponsors for Cricket Builds Hope in the capital of Rwanda, Kilagi. The name Gasharu might be familiar to you. We offered their naturally processed harvest this past summer as a pour-over option that had notes of strawberry, macadamia, and white tea. We currently have another harvest from Gasharu offered as espresso at both our retail locations. This gives the espresso a balance of strawberry jam, smoked cherry, and key lime pie. Gasharu’s standards set it apart as a quality coffee farm that cares as much about the coffee as it does their community. 
Gasharu has been established for 43 years and was started by Celestin Rumenerangabo and his wife, Marie Gorette Mukamurenzyi who still runs the farm along with their children and surrounding community. One of their sons, Valentin, was a great host to us on our visit, driving us 4.5 hours from Kigali to the northeast region near the Nyungwe National Park to their coffee farm. Seeing the care for the coffee process along with the involvement in the community with employees was such a rewarding experience for us and we feel even more honored than ever to serve Gasharu at our shops.