What Does Rwandan Coffee Taste Like_ What is the Potato Defect in Rwandan Coffee

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange | More Coffee Bean Information | Please Follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat Public Account: cafe_style)

Rwanda Coffee Industry Overview

☐ Coffee cultivation is a traditional industry in Rwanda. As one of the least developed countries in the world, 90% of Rwanda's economy relies on agriculture and animal husbandry.

☐ In 1904, German missionaries introduced Bourbon coffee trees from Guatemala, and exports began in 1917. Through colonial trade policies, farmers in various regions were required to plant 70 coffee trees each, thus establishing Rwanda's coffee production history.

☐ Unlike other coffee-producing countries, Rwanda still has no large-scale estates today. Instead, coffee cultivation is carried out by 500,000 small-scale farmers.

☐ The industry is primarily organized through cooperatives. The cultivation area covers up to 33,000 hectares with as many as 80 million coffee trees. In the 1990s, coffee became Rwanda's most important export product.

Challenges Facing Rwandan Coffee

However, Rwandan coffee faces numerous challenges:

The 1994 Genocide

An organized genocide against the Tutsi and moderate Hutu ethnic groups by the Hutu majority

Resulting in 800,000 to 1 million deaths, accounting for 10% of the national population.

Most of those who died were young men, which was a devastating blow to this already impoverished agricultural nation.

It nearly destroyed Rwanda's coffee industry, with coffee exports plummeting to nearly zero...

Inadequate Post-Harvest Management

Coffee cherries need to be transported to processing plants as quickly as possible after harvesting, but Rwanda lacks adequate facilities to process the cherries immediately. The cherries pile up after harvesting, and lack of ventilation accelerates mold growth and decay. Spoiled cherries affect coffee quality and cause defective flavors.

Furthermore, while Rwandan coffee can be traced back to washing stations, these stations are supplied by cooperatives or small farmers. Each small farmer averages 183 coffee trees, making it difficult to trace Rwandan coffee back to individual growers and ensure consistent coffee quality.

The Potato Effect

This effect appears only in coffee from Rwanda and Burundi. When coffee cherries are infected by an unknown bacteria and the bacteria enters the coffee skin, it creates adverse effects. While these effects are harmless to human health, when infected coffee beans are roasted and ground, they release undesirable pungent and irritating odors, similar to a peeled potato.

This bacteria only affects specific coffee beans, so as long as infected beans are picked out from a whole bag before grinding, they won't affect the other beans.

Eliminating this bacteria is extremely challenging. Once green bean processing is complete, infected coffee beans cannot be distinguished. Coffee roasters find it difficult to identify them before roasting, and even after roasting, these beans remain hard to detect until they are ground into powder and the defective odor emerges.

The only possibility is to pick out infected coffee cherries before processing, as infected cherries show obvious surface damage.

Coffee as a Symbol of Economic Recovery

Facing crisis and challenges, coffee has become an important symbol of Rwanda's economic recovery.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. Online store services are also available. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473