Rwanda Western Province Mushonyi Washing Station Bourbon Specialty Coffee Beans Freshly Roasted to Order

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Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Address: No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Contact: 020-38364473
Ingredients: Self-roasted
Shelf Life: 30 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste: Sweet
Coffee Bean State: Roasted beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Rwanda
Coffee Type: Other

Rwanda West Province Rutsiro Mushonyi CWS Bourbon

Country: Rwanda
Region: Western Province, Rutsiro District
Altitude: 1,827 meters
Rainfall: More than 1,500 mm
Processing Method: Washed, then sun-dried on raised African beds
Variety: BM-139 (Bourbon)
Processing Station: Mushonyi Processing Station
Producer: 1,756 smallholder member farmers (each farming roughly 253 trees)
Flavor Notes: Red apple, cherry, cinnamon, honey

The award record of Mushonyi Processing Station is genuinely remarkable. In addition to winning the Cup of Excellence championship in 2010, the station took home championship, 12th, 16th and 28th places with four different lots in 2011 alone.

Rwanda can fairly be described as a fast-developing specialty coffee origin in East Africa. Beyond the still-vivid memory of its tragic genocide, the quality of its specialty coffee has improved at a striking pace. This year we have cupped several Rwandan coffees with refreshing texture and very elegant, beautiful acidity.

As in many African countries, Rwandan coffee is grown mainly by smallholders. Every harvest season, farmers pick ripe cherries and deliver them to the processing station, where the work begins. First comes hand sorting, which keeps unripe or damaged fruit out of the batch. The cherries are then pulped, followed by a washed fermentation of 12 to 18 hours in a cool, low-temperature environment. The remaining mucilage is then scrubbed away thoroughly in washing channels. During drying on raised beds, station members turn the beans by hand with great care, making sure that under ample sun the parchment beans neither dry too fast nor dry unevenly, until moisture content settles below 14%.

We have introduced several specialty coffees from Rwanda's Nyamasheke region before. This carefully selected Mushonyi comes from Rutsiro, north of Nyamasheke and likewise set along Lake Kivu. High altitude, fertile volcanic soil and an excellent climate combine to produce superior coffee. We will keep exploring this gem of a Rwandan growing region. This lot is a direct trade lot bought straight from the processing station, and it is the freshest lot of the 2015 harvest season (roughly June to September).

Flavor Brief for This Lot:

Red apple, cherry, cinnamon and honey, with excellent sweetness and balance, and a finish of cinnamon, almond and chocolate.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this Rwandan washed Bourbon appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato is a rewarding companion cup. Kenya is a specialist in the double-washed method: the beans are floated and soaked, washed free of the mucilage left on the surface, soaked again, then dried and hulled, a repeated cycle of rinsing and soaking that pushes the juice-like quality of the coffee to its limit. In the cup you will find cherry tomato, dark plum, snow pear and black plum, layered over brown sugar sweetness, with a sweet-tart and juicy body that keeps many coffee lovers coming back.

Because double washing concentrates both clarity and acidity, brew it as a pour-over with a medium grind and a slow, steady pour, so the juicy fruit and the clean finish come through without the cup turning sharp.