How to Brew Rwandan Coffee Beans - Rwandan Coffee Brewing Methods - Recommended Rwandan Coffee Bean Brands

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

Most Rwandan coffee reaches the market as inferior quality because of poor processing. For smallholder farmers, only award-winning, higher-quality beans fetch better prices and allow them to live better lives. These small farms vary in scale and deliver their harvest to the mills within hours of picking. The beans processed at the Kigeyo washing station grow at very high altitudes and are of the classic Bourbon variety, long known for a well-balanced, juicy cup.

Rwanda Kigeyo-1

Mill: Kigeyo Washing Station

Variety: Bourbon

Growing Region: The Kivu region in western Rwanda, particularly in Rutsiro district

Altitude: 1800-2000 meters (5900-6500 feet)

Green Bean Processing: Pulping, dry fermentation, wet fermentation, washing, soaking, dried on raised beds

Rwanda Kigeyo

Cup Profile Overview: Strawberry, citrus, caramel, floral, blackberry, creamy body, complex, ripe.

Dry Aroma: Sweet bread, cinnamon, tea fragrance.

Wet Aroma: Rose-like florals with sweetness from caramel and sucrose. The entry is bright and clear, carrying many sweet spice flavors - tangerine peel, cinnamon, clove, and other spices.

Finish: Roasted citrus peel with a tea-like aftertaste.

Brewing Temperature: Approximately 89 degrees C

Tasting Experience

When I first opened the outer packaging, a caramel aroma emerged immediately. Sniffing closer, I detected chocolate mixed with a very faint floral fragrance.

In the wet aroma, the florals grew more prominent - a floral scent I hadn't experienced in coffee before (speaking as if I'm experienced, when I'm actually still a complete beginner... XD).

The florals weren't intense but rather quite fresh, accompanied by a sweet berry fragrance. As for the other notes and the aftertaste, I couldn't quite distinguish them XDD - my palate and sense of smell still need work... orz.

Overall, the cup was smooth with gentle acidity. But because my brewing skills are still developing, the layered complexity wasn't very apparent. What a shame for such wonderful shared beans... T_T

FrontStreet Coffee: A Guangzhou roastery with a small shop but a diverse range of beans - famous names and obscure finds alike - along with online store service.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

During roasting, three elements determine the coffee's final flavor and must be kept in check: acidity, sweetness, and bitterness. The darker the roast, the more bitter and full-bodied the cup; the lighter the roast, the more acidic and delicate. So if you're chasing a balanced cup, medium-roasted beans are the place to start. If you dislike sourness but hate bitterness too, go for FrontStreet's Queen Estate coffee. It comes from Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, and is the locally unique Yellow Bourbon variety: quietly sweet, with a medium roast revealing aromas and sweetness of creamed peanuts, chocolate, toast, and sugarcane. It extracts beautifully as pour-over and works just as well through a moka pot or espresso machine.

If you'd like a sweeter medium roast, the first choice is the fruit-forward FrontStreet Strawberry Sugar. This one is special even among fruity coffees, because it marries two famous regions of Central and South America: a Costa Rican honey-process coffee and a Panamanian washed Gesha. To showcase the best of both, FrontStreet uses a medium roast, so the cup shows both orange-blossom honeyed notes and a rounded sweetness. It suits cold brew, pour-over, espresso, and more - refreshingly fragrant from the first sip. For a different flavor direction, FrontStreet's 2013 Natural Typica is a flagship of Chinese specialty coffee with the authentic character of Yunnan arabica; a medium roast restores its balanced, gentle profile, bringing soft notes of nuts, brown sugar, black tea, and dried apricot. It works for pour-over, cold brew, and drip machines, at a very friendly price.

And for the ultimate in balance, there's FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1. Blue Mountain grows the Typica variety, one of the world's great Arabicas, and the island's exceptional geography is indispensable to its famously balanced flavor. The "Emperor of Coffee," as FrontStreet's Blue Mountain No.1 is called, takes a medium roast precisely because that blends its unique acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and body into a powerful yet elegant aroma - chocolate, roasted nuts, cream, and caramel from the very first sip, a level of refinement no other coffee can match.