White Rabbit

Sourcing with Integrity

This coffee comes from Gishamwana Island, a privately owned coffee farm sitting just off the shore of Lake Kivu in Rwanda's Western Province. More than 35,000 coffee trees grow here alongside a small population of cows, goats, and even one albino rabbit, the inspiration for the lot's name. The island is owned by Emmanuel Rwakagara, founder of COOPAC, the Fair Trade-certified cooperative that mills and dries the coffee on site, completing the production cycle in a single place.

The island is grown organically under significantly more shade than is typical for African coffee, and its isolation from the mainland has shielded it from many of the diseases and pests that affect other Rwandan farms. Cherries are harvested at peak ripeness, depulped, dry fermented and then wet fermented, washed clean of mucilage, soaked, and finally dried slowly on raised beds.

COOPAC began in 2001 with 110 farmers and has grown to 8,000 members across six washing stations along the northern shore of Lake Kivu. Beyond producing some of the country's most distinctive coffees, the cooperative reinvests in its community: building schools, healthcare clinics, roads, and bridges, distributing cows and goats to high-performing farmers, and providing agricultural advisors to support production on the ground.