Rwandan Coffee Cupping Flavor Profile Description_How to Roast Rwandan Coffee Beans_Is Rwandan Coffee Delicious

The Land of a Thousand Hills

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

Rwanda, known as "The Land of a Thousand Hills," is characterized by mountains and highlands throughout its territory. Most regions enjoy a tropical highland climate and tropical savanna climate, which is mild and cool. With excellent natural conditions of high altitude and fertile volcanic soil, the country's remarkably fertile soil and suitable climate contribute to plant growth. Rwanda is one of the few countries in the world that can fully enjoy the harmony between soil, altitude, and climate. In this unique growing environment, Rwanda's high-quality coffee possesses distinctive taste and aroma.

The flavor of Rwandan coffee is described as having "grass-like fragrance" with tropical climate characteristics. Besides presenting fruity sweetness, this coffee also allows people to taste refreshing, bright, and fresh sensations. The Bourbon coffee grown in Rwanda is acclaimed for its fruity sweetness, with rich and full aroma, absolutely no astringency, leaving a long aftertaste. This coffee has delicious, citrus-like sweet fragrance and possesses deep chocolate color.

Rwanda: A Notable Coffee Origin

This small East African country should not be overlooked by roasters and coffee enthusiasts. It is renowned as the land of a thousand hills, where its high-quality, high-altitude coffee coexists with its poverty.

It is not Africa's largest coffee-producing country; in 2016, it harvested only 220,000 bags (60kg each), compared to Ethiopia's 7.1 million bags and Uganda's 4.9 million bags. However, Rwanda is positioning itself as a world-class specialty coffee origin.

Processing Methods

In the past, Rwandan coffee was processed by independent farmers themselves, resulting in inconsistent quality, before being mixed with coffee processed by neighboring farms. However, after the genocide turmoil, both the government and the PEARL organization encouraged producers to invest in fully washed processing methods. Now there are 245 processing stations nationwide.

It's worth mentioning that the fully washed processing method, also called double washed, typically differs slightly from the regular washed processing method. Coffee is usually soaked twice, a method common in Africa but uncommon in Latin America. Of course, if you search hard enough, you'll discover other processing methods. However, typical Rwandan coffee flavor characteristics are: high sweetness, full body, and richness.

Understanding Rwandan Coffee's Excellence

Let's explore the deliciousness of Rwandan coffee and how it's produced.

Like all coffee, roasting is influenced by factors such as coffee bean variety, origin, processing method, and more. However, one thing you should remember: due to Rwanda's coffee altitude, its density is high.

A general rule for African specialty coffee is to apply significant heat during the roasting process. Hard beans like these transfer heat well, so higher drop temperatures and greater heating rates would be better.

Additionally, Rwandan coffee has excellent body, so you can also try extending the flavor development time and first crack period to emphasize the body. Light-roasted Rwandan coffee has pleasant acidity, but don't be afraid to create more syrup-like body/texture in the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse variety of beans, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services: 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