With a little delay this month, we are ready to reveal the Shokunin Mystery Coffee details!
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Congo Katana
Variety: Arabica JBM (a type of Typica) and Bourbon (Jackson)
Processing: Washed
Altitude: 1,500 - 1,800 m.a.s.l.
Tasting notes: lemon, grapefruit, black tea
The Story of the Coffee from Shokunin
The story of Idjwi is as versatile as it is both wonderful and tragic. Located in lake Kivu between Congo and Rwanda, this island is wholly different from its surroundings. For decades it has been a refuge for people trying to escape wars and genocide. With its lack of industry and even cars, this island truly is the most tranquil place you can find in the country.
Originally, the Belgians planted coffee here, but because of the plummet of coffee prices in the 1980’s, plantations were neglected. Still, many people relied on solely this product as their income. Because of the lack of organization and the island’s location right in between two countries, illicit trade was the only way to bring this coffee to the market. This did not only give the Rwandese complete power over the coffee prices, but bandits prowled these smuggling routes, stealing coffee and even killing the farmers.
The striking number of widows on the island was one of the main reasons for the farming community to make a stand and organize themselves with a cooperative structure. One of these coops is CPNCK, which, under the management of Gilbert Makelele and his cooperation with many different oganizations, has drastically improved the lives in the community.
There is a strong sense of mission and the people are eager to learn how they can improve their product and create more demand. The first offer samples we tasted were incredible and convinced us this is a truly game changing project. We hope that through communication all along the chain, we can help create this demand and explore this amazing coffee’s potential.
You can find more info about the farm and Shokunin cooperation with Gilbert Makembele - HERE.
We would like to thank Jelle for his support this month and great Mystery Coffee!
No one got the country of origin right this month! We have a tie on the first place between Judy and Dawid who both got 26 points. Erbse is just behind them with 23 points on the second place. Five people scored 22 points and took the third place.
TOP3 of April 2022 round
1. Judy, Dawid - 26 points
2. erbse - 23 points
3. NeonBot, McBreezy, SneakyTurtle, bbartha, Adam87 - 22 points
Here's how our 2022 season TOP3 looks like after April round:
TOP3 of 2022
1. Adam87 - 64 points
2. McBreezy - 60 points
3. Dawid - 58 points
You can find full standings on our Standings subpage.
Mystery Coffee League is sponsored by Acaia, Kruve, Sibarist and Penny & Meriwether.
May round with Morgon Coffee Roasters is currently in progress. If you would like to join the MCL next month, make sure to join our Discord in time for pre-orders from Nomad Coffee in Barcelona! Here's our roasters line-up for the next few months:
MAY Morgon Coffee Roasters from Göteborg, Sweden 🇸🇪
JUNE Nomad Coffee from Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸
JULY Kawa Coffee from Paris, France 🇫🇷
AUGUST Sumo Coffee Roasters from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪
