Rwanda Washed Bourbon Coffee Brands and Brewing Steps Guide

Hand Pour Rwanda Brewing Method

15g coffee grounds, medium-fine grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder 3.5 setting), V60 dripper, water temperature 90-92°C. First pour 30g water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Once the water level drops halfway, continue pouring slowly to 225g total. Skip the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Dazhen Coffee FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
Address: No. 10 Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Contact: 020-38364473
Ingredients: House-roasted
Shelf life: 30 days
Net weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste profile: Sweet
Bean state: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar content: Sugar-free
Origin: Rwanda
Coffee type: Other

Coffee Details

Rwanda West Province Rutsiro Mushonyi CWS Bourbon

Country: Rwanda

Region: Western Province, Rutsiro Region

Altitude: 1,827 meters

Rainfall: >1,500mm

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) comes from Arabica trees of the Bourbon variety. Bourbon was first cultivated on Réunion - called Île Bourbon before 1789 - and later spread from there to Africa and Latin America. Today it is one of the two most widely planted Arabica variety groups in the world, typically grown at altitudes of 3,500 to 6,500 feet (1,062-1,972 meters).

Variety: Bourbon

Related: Heirloom variety

Origin: Bourbon Island

Grows best at: 800 meters and above

Type: Heirloom variety

Commonly found in: Coffee-growing regions worldwide

Main colors: Red, yellow, and orange - mostly red

Bean size: Medium

Leaf characteristics: Wide and short

Processing method: Washed, high-altitude rack sun-dried

Rwanda Coffee Production

Like many African countries, Rwanda's coffee comes primarily from smallholder farmers. Each harvest season, farmers pick ripe cherries and deliver them to processing stations. First, manual sorting ensures no unripe or damaged fruit slips in. Then the pulp is removed, followed by a 12-18 hour washed fermentation in a cool, low-temperature environment. Afterward the clinging pectin is washed off in channels. Through the rack-drying stage, station staff turn the beans by hand and tend them carefully, ensuring that under ample sun the parchment beans neither lose moisture too fast nor dry unevenly, until moisture stabilizes below 14%.

We've introduced several specialty coffees from Rwanda's Nyamasheke region before. This carefully selected Mushonyi lot comes from the Rutsiro region just north of Nyamasheke, likewise along the shores of Lake Kivu. High altitude, fertile volcanic soil, and an excellent climate create the quality in the cup, and we will keep digging deep into this gem of a region. This batch is a direct-trade purchase from the processing station - the freshest lot of the 2015 harvest season (roughly June to September)!!

Variety: BM-139 (Bourbon) variety

Processing station: Mushonyi Processing Station

Farm owner: 1,756 member smallholder farmers (each farming roughly 253 trees)

Flavor profile: Red apple, cherry, cinnamon, honey

[Mushonyi Processing Station's award record is astonishing. Beyond winning the COE Cup of Excellence championship in 2010, in 2011 alone it took championship, 12th, 16th, and 28th place!!!]

Rwanda may be the fastest-developing specialty coffee origin in East Africa in recent years. Beyond the lingering memory of its tragic genocide, the quality of its specialty coffee has climbed remarkably fast. This year we've cupped several Rwandan coffees with fresh textures and very elegant, beautiful acidity.

Flavor Notes for This Batch

Red apple, cherry, cinnamon and honey; excellent sweetness and balance, with cinnamon, almond, and chocolate in the aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The V60 dripper this recipe calls for is no accident. Hario, the Tokyo glassware maker founded in 1921, redesigned the V60 into its modern form in 2004 and named it for its 60-degree cone and V shape. The cone funnels water to the center before it drips into the server, extending the contact between water and grounds so aroma and flavor extract fully, while the signature single large outlet lets flow rate ride entirely on the brewer's pour control - which shows up directly in the cup.

Washed coffees like this Mushonyi Bourbon are exactly what the V60 was born to brew. Before the third wave of coffee, the market favored medium-dark roasts - body, sweetness, caramelized notes like chocolate, maple, nuts, and vanilla, the territory of FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 and PWN Golden Mandheling, brewed back then through siphons and cloth filters. As the third wave brought the pursuit of origin character - Ethiopia's white florals, Kenya's berry acidity - roasting swung lighter, and the V60's fast extraction became the ideal vehicle for florals, fruit acidity, clean sweetness, and tea-like refinement.

If this Rwandan's red-apple brightness wins you over, try FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato next: a washed lot from Thika grown at 1,550-1,750 meters on SL28 and SL34, given Kenya's signature 72-hour double washed fermentation and a light roast. The dry aroma opens with dried cherry tomato and florals, the cup delivers crisp cherry tomato and dark plum with juicy, fresh-squeezed acidity, mid-palate sweetness of snow pear and black plum, and a long, clean finish of yellow sugar and faint green tea. Both are proof that washed processing and a good V60 turn fruit into music.