Assembly Decaf — Congo

After gaining independence from Belgium in 1960, the DRC’s arabica coffee industry fell into decline and collapsed altogether in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and subsequent Congo civil wars.

Founded in 2009, the Cooperative Agricole Muungano (CAM) was founded as a farmers’ initiative to re-establish the production of high quality arabica for export out of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Located on the slopes near the shores of Lake Kivu, today the number of smallholder farmers operating within the co-op totals close to 5,000.

Initially Muungano rented a washing station dating from the colonial period – Mukwidja - on the lake shore. In 2013, they built their first new washing station at Kiniezere and have since added six others across their catchment areas in Kalehe (South Kivu) and Masisi (North Kivu).

And Muungano’s impact isn’t limited to coffee. The history of women in Eastern D.R.Congo is one of marginalisation and abuse, and the co-op has worked tirelessly to address the deeply-rooted gender inequalities within the communities that the co-op supports.

Almost 50% of members are women and three women feature on Muungano’s board – notable statistics given the broad lack of female representation in decision-making roles within coffee across the world’s growing regions.

A significant amount of the co-op’s female members own their own coffee plants, working completely independently of their husbands. Since 2016, coffees from these producers have been sold by Muungano as stand-alone products, distinct from all other crop grown within the co-op.

This is one of those coffees. Grown in South Kivu, processed with a natural sugarcane decaffeination method, and roasted by us in London. This is the best decaf coffee we’ve ever tasted and has reconfigured our understanding of the flavour potential of decaffeinated beans. Extraordinary.