Rwanda Coffee Introduction: A Beginner's Guide to Rwandan Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee - A Beginner's Guide to Rwandan Coffee

As one of Rwanda's most valuable crops, coffee sits at the center of the country's agricultural rebuilding plan, and the impact of investment in infrastructure and producer training is still being felt today.

Dan Craig (right), director of MSU's Global Program for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, and Angelo Occhipinti (center), CEO and chief roaster of Paramount Coffee Company in Lansing, Michigan, inspect dried coffee beans at a coffee processing station.

Even so, Rwanda still faces many challenges: roughly 40% of the population lives in poverty. Yet by 2016 coffee was Rwanda's fourth-largest export, worth $59.4 million a year. The growth of the coffee industry can continue to support the country's economic recovery.

Rwanda's National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) says its coffee strategy is to "position Rwanda as a specialty coffee producing country" and to "enable the coffee industry to better contribute to national development and prosperity." It treats rising prices as a sign of success and focuses on improving production and processing.

What most people love about Rwandan coffee is its syrupy, full-bodied taste. That sweet, intense character is partly down to the varieties planted: most Rwandan coffee beans are Bourbon or Bourbon-derived.

Even so, Rwandan coffee shows a wide range of flavors: cherry, grape, lemon, chocolate, melon, orange, nectarine, candy, apricot, plum and more. Beyond its clean, refreshing citrus acidity, dates are one of the country's signature flavors.

These fruity characteristics come from excellent growing conditions. Rwanda has roughly 400,000 smallholder producers (NAEB), and most farms sit at altitudes between 1,700 and 2,000 meters. High altitude increases the complexity of the coffee's flavor.

One thing to know: much of Rwanda's coffee is processed by individual farmers themselves, which can lead to inconsistent quality, and lots are then blended with coffee processed by neighboring farms.

In Summary

FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee research center, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share unreservedly only to help more friends fall in love with coffee, and we hold three discounted coffee events every month. This is because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest price. That has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Rwanda's syrupy, Bourbon-driven sweetness has a clear cousin in FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate. Grown from the Yellow Bourbon variety in the world's largest coffee-producing country, it is clean, gentle and sweet, and a medium roast layers in cream, peanut, chocolate, toasted bread and sugarcane - a rounded cup that mirrors that soft, full Rwandan body.

For a more classic expression of balance, try FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1. Its Typica beans bring a smooth, mild profile where acidity, sweetness, bitterness and aroma all sit in harmony, with cream, caramel, chocolate and nutty notes and a clean, long finish. It is the kind of coffee that wins over nearly everyone at the table.