Czar Street is made up of the following components:
70% Rwanda Gitega Natural
The Gitega Hills are found in the Nyamagabe District close to Nyungwe Forest in the South of Rwanda. The washing station is owned by Bernard Uwitije who has lived in the area all of his life and has invested heavily in infrastructure designed to be more environmentally friendly with more responsible water use. The average altitude of land delivering cherry to this station is 1650 metres above sea level and that high altitude along with the volcanic soil of the area make Gitega an excellent location for high quality processing. Ripe cherries are delivered to the Gitega Hills station to be floated and sorted to remove any that are defective. Those that are selected are then dried for up to 30 days on raised African beds. During this time, they are regularly turned each hour to prevent mould formation and are carefully covered at night.
30% Brazil Fazenda Rainha da Paz
As the largest producer of coffee in the world, Brazil has long been known for its coffee though more commonly for its commercial grade lots and focus on volume production. This has been changing in recent years thanks to growers like Marcello, a member of the Montanari family and an agricultural engineer who is championing the specialty approach for their three farms in Minas Gerais. As in much of the country, harvesting on Rainha da Paz is mostly mechanical thanks to the flat lay of the land – where Marcello and his family differ is in their commitment to the environment and ecosystem surrounding their land. There are plans afoot to become a carbon neutral farm which would be a revolutionary prospect in Brazil – whilst the farm is relatively new, there is by no means a lack of experience or attention to detail whilst under the watchful management of Marcello and his brother Roger who are fourth generation coffee farmers and really working to push the boundaries of coffee production in their area. This lot is a Rubi varietal which derives from the Mundo Novo and Catuai varietals – it is known to be high yielding and resistant to disease with good sweetness and complexity in the cup. We have worked with this farm for 5 years now and look forward to new crop arrivals (from January onwards) each year.
