Starbucks Rwanda Shulli Blackberry - Does African Rwanda Coffee Beans Also Have Fascinating Floral and Fruity Aroma

FrontStreet Coffee - The Story of Rwanda Hingakawa

The heroes in Arthur Karuletwa's heart are a group made up entirely of female coffee farmers in his homeland of Rwanda. They call their group "Hingakawa," which means "Let's grow coffee."

"When the world was struggling with how to save this country, these extraordinary women stepped forward. The country needed them, just as psychological trauma needs release," said Karuletwa, director of Starbucks Global Coffee Sourcing.

"For these women, the only thing they could trust was that coffee could bring them a living and a profit, and that alone is incredible," Karuletwa said. "They learned from trauma, started from scratch, and rebuilt the coffee industry from a terrible state. For them, it is nothing short of a miracle."

When these women began rebuilding the coffee industry, they had to unite again and learn to trust one another. The kindness and compassion they showed along the way can sound almost unbelievable.

Karuletwa recalled: "I once saw these women pick up those iron farm tools - machetes - and use them to kill people."

Now they use the same tools to prune coffee trees and clear away weeds. It is precisely because of the time it took to reconnect and heal one another, Karuletwa said, that this simple act of using a machete has become something entirely different.

The Hingakawa group began as a small band of women, formed as a branch of the Abakundakawa cooperative.

Karuletwa considered it very brave for these women to ask the cooperative to truly separate the coffee they grew from that of other farmers.

"It must be understood that in some cultures, gender equality is still treated as taboo. From a humanitarian standpoint, this cannot be accepted. Even where the harm is clearly understood, gender equality is often still viewed as something foreign, hovering at a dangerous edge."

Today, the Hingakawa group counts about 150 members. These women grow and process their coffee together, including the Starbucks Reserve lot - Rwanda Hingakawa. Karuletwa describes the coffee as elegant as the women who produce it. "These women are heroes to me - not measured in an industrial sense, but for what they have achieved," he said.

Coffee Details

Origin: Africa · Rwanda · Muhanga

Processing Method: Washed

Coffee Bean Variety: Bourbon

Altitude: 1800~2000 meters

Acidity: Medium to high

Body: Medium

Flavor: Grapefruit, tropical fruit sweetness

Knowledge Point

Rwandan coffee is often processed by independent smallholder farmers on their own, which can make quality uneven before it is blended with coffee processed by neighboring farms.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mission

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research center, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone, without reservation, so that more friends fall in love with coffee - a mission it has carried for six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Rwanda's floral-fruity character appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Guodingding Cooperative Yirgacheffe is the natural next step. It carries the classic washed Yirgacheffe profile - sweet white florals close to fresh jasmine, bright citrus acidity, and a green-tea finish - and in a pour-over it lifts with lemony acidity and honeyed sweetness. It also makes a lovely cold brew: long, cold steeping draws out lighter aromatic molecules, producing an iced coffee as refreshing as fruit tea.

For a fuller tropical-fruit experience, try FrontStreet's natural Huakui. Its creamy strawberry character comes from fully ripe cherries dried whole in the sun, which builds rich sweetness; on the palate it is silky, with a light orange-blossom lift and the juicy sweet-tart depth of guava and mango.

And if you want florals with real complexity, FrontStreet's Strawberry Candy gesha blend combines Costa Rican honey processing with Panamanian washed gesha. The cup brings raisin, orange, and ripe blueberry aromatics, a rose-like enclosed sweetness, and a faint almond finish - rich enough for pour-over, cold brew, home espresso, moka pot, or a Clever dripper.