How Rwanda Washed Bourbon Coffee Originated and How Rwandan Coffee Bean Grades Are Classified

Rwanda can be described as East Africa's most rapidly developing specialty coffee-producing country in recent years. Beyond the fresh memory of its tragic genocide story, the quality of its specialty coffee has been improving remarkably quickly. This year, we have cupped several Rwandan coffees with fresh textures and very elegant, refined acidity.

Flavor Review

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

Brewing Instructions

Hand-pour Rwanda: 15g of coffee, medium-fine grind (Fuji Royal grinder #3.5), V60 dripper, 90-92°C water temperature. First pour 30g water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level drops to halfway before pouring again. Slowly pour until reaching 225g total. Avoid the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

Shelf Life: 30 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste Profile: Sweet coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Rwanda

Coffee Type: Other

Origin Details

Official Name: Rwanda West Province Rutsiro Mushonyi CWS Bourbon

Country: Rwanda

Region: Western Province, Rutsiro District

Altitude: 1,827 meters

Rainfall: >1500mm

About Bourbon Coffee

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) is coffee produced from Arabica trees of the Bourbon cultivar. Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Réunion Island, which was called Bourbon Island (Île Bourbon) before 1789. It was later taken up by France and connected to the African continent and Latin America, and today it is one of the two most widely grown Arabica groups globally. Bourbon coffee is typically grown at altitudes between 3,500 and 6,500 feet (1,062-1,972 meters).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The washed process, which defines this Rwandan Bourbon, is a traditional way of handling coffee fruit with water. It typically involves flotation, depulping, a soak-and-ferment stage to remove the mucilage, washing or further soaking, and drying followed by hulling. Because the beans spend a long time in water, they undergo chemical changes that consume much of the simple sugar (fructose and glucose), lowering sweetness while increasing various organic acids. Washed coffees therefore tend to retain more of the bean's own aroma while offering bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh character.

Many drinkers know Yirgacheffe without realizing that smallholder yields there are pooled at cooperatives for processing and sale. FrontStreet Coffee's Gedeb cooperative is one such excellent team from Gedeb village, with skilled processing experience, and its especially refined, clean cup is what brought it to prominence. The washed process lets the Gedeb cooperative express jasmine florality and bright citrus acidity to the fullest, and after a light-to-medium roast the coffee gives green tea and honey notes - suited to pour-over, cold brew, espresso, and more.

When it comes to washed coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato is one of the best-known examples, because Kenya excels at double washing. The bean is put through the washing step twice: it is soaked for flotation, rinsed to remove residual mucilage, soaked again, then dried and hulled for storage. Through the repeated rinsing and soaking, the juicy character is rendered to the extreme, and the cup shows cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar aromas - sweet-sour and juicy, a favorite of many coffee enthusiasts. At the top of the washed family sits FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1: Jamaica suffers from limited sunshine, so washing was adopted to cut the risk of deterioration by removing skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying, shortening drying time and producing bright, low-defect beans. The result keeps Blue Mountain's rich aroma and shows pure hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel notes, with a balanced body in which no single note dominates.