How to Make Rwandan Pour-Over Coffee | Is Rwandan Pour-Over Coffee Delicious | Kenya and Rwandan Coffee

The Natural Beauty of Rwanda

Rolling mountains and crisscrossing lakes reflect a lush green land under an azure sky: that is the impression travellers who have visited Rwanda carry away of its natural environment. Unlike other coffee-growing countries, Rwanda's agricultural infrastructure is very weak, with 80% of the country lacking electricity. That makes post-harvest processing the key to determining the quality of Rwandan coffee beans.

Geography and History

The Republic of Rwanda is a small mountainous country in east-central Africa near the equator. It borders Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and Congo to the west. Before 1962 it was a colony, gaining independence from Belgium in 1962.

Coffee Cultivation Heritage

Rwanda has been cultivating coffee since the colonial era. The genocide that took place more than 20 years ago brought indelible trauma to this already impoverished agricultural country, with many people lost from the workforce. After the civil war, Rwanda increased its efforts in coffee cultivation and export trade, providing technical support to farmers and promoting growing cooperatives. Through those unremitting efforts, Rwandan coffee beans have won widespread praise in the international market in recent years.

Mushonyi CWS Washing Station

The Rwandan coffee imported this time comes from the Mushonyi CWS Washing Station. This processing facility, which has received foreign organic natural farming certification, uses scientific methods to encourage farmers to adopt organic cultivation and produce high-quality, abundant beans.

Rwanda has the highest population density of any African country. Since the first coffee export in 1917, this small East African nation now has nearly 450,000 coffee farmers.

Each farmer tends an average of 150-300 coffee trees on a small plot, often less than 1 hectare, which internationally would classify them as smallholders. Because these smallholders cannot afford their own processing facilities, Rwandan farmers deliver their harvested cherries straight to the regional Mushonyi CWS Washing Station for processing.

Coffee Details

Rwanda coffee origin: Mushonyi, Rutsiro

Estate/Exporter: Mushonyi CWS Washing Station, RWACOF

Altitude: 1800m-2200m | Variety: Bourbon

Processing method: Washed | Harvest period: March-June

Grade: A | Soil: Sandy soil

Cupping information: Red apple, cherry, cinnamon, almond, chocolate

Recommended roast level: City

Cupping Profile

Rwandan coffee has a delightful, citrusy sweet aroma in its cupping profile,

with a deep chocolate colour,

red apple, cherry, cinnamon and honey, and excellent sweetness

balance, cinnamon, almond, and chocolate aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Because this is a washed African coffee, the closest match in FrontStreet Coffee's range comes from neighbouring Kenya. FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato is a Kenyan specialty washed coffee built on vivid cherry tomato and smoked plum acidity with a full, juicy body, exactly the family of flavours a washed Rwandan shares. Kenya is particularly skilled at double washed processing, repeating the washing step, and the repeated rinsing and soaking draw the juice quality out to the fullest, giving aromas of cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum and brown sugar, sweet-tart and juicy in the cup.

If you would rather brew something more floral, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gutingding is a washed Ethiopian single origin from the Worka area, with jasmine fragrance, bright citrus and lemon acidity and no traditional bitterness, a gentle, clean style that suits the same pour-over routine and the V60's fast, controllable extraction.