The Ibisi Mountain Hills Washing Station is located in the hills of Southern Rwanda, just a short drive from Nyungwe Forest. In the eastern part of the Nyungwe Forest you will find one branch of Nile, which is a source of water for local farmers.
The owner of the washing station, Bernard Uwitije, has been growing coffee for more than 20 years. Until 2015, Bernard was doing commodity coffee, but in that year he discovered the magic of specialty coffee and gradually built two processing stations where he started producing specialty coffee. The first plant Bernard built was the Gitega Hills washing station, which was a great success, so he decided to expand the operation by building a second one called Ibisi.
More than 2,000 farmers deliver coffee cherries to Ibisi, among whom there are 25 ethnic groups and more than 48 % of them are women.
A portion of the income at the end of the season is distributed back to the farmers as support for community development, as contributions to schools and for medical supplies.
Coffee processing