How to Brew African Rwandan Coffee Beans for Great Taste - Pour-Over Parameters and Flavor Profile

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With the rise of specialty coffee culture, coffee enthusiasts have encountered many high-quality single-origin coffees. For example, with African regional coffees, everyone knows that Ethiopian and Kenyan regional coffee beans are quite famous. However, in recent years, Bourbon variety coffee from Rwanda has also shown excellent flavor profiles. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has also introduced Rwanda Bourbon coffee beans for everyone to taste. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share information about this coffee bean and discuss how to brew it using pour-over methods for the best taste.

FrontStreet Coffee Rwanda Gishyita Coffee Beans

• Country: Rwanda
• Region: Nyamasheke District, Western Rwanda
• Altitude: 1700-2000m
• Varieties: Bourbon, Catuai, Catimor
• Processing: Washed
• Flavor: Plum, citrus, berries, nuts, bright acidity, honey-sweet aftertaste

Gishyita Washing Station

The coffee beans introduced by FrontStreet Coffee come from the Gishyita Washing Station. According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, the owner of Gishyita Washing Station, Fidele Ndagijimana, is a young trader in the Nyamasheke region. He saw the development potential of specialty washed coffee in Rwanda, so he applied to the government to build this processing station and successfully processed 170 tons of coffee cherries in the first year. He then uses the off-season to improve and expand production equipment, so that when the next harvest season arrives, he can provide better production machinery and superior storage conditions. This outstanding trader also secured more land near the processing station for coffee cultivation. This has laid a solid quality foundation for these Gishyita coffee beans.

Rwanda Coffee Bean Varieties

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, over 97% of coffee grown in Rwanda is Arabica, of which about 95% is Bourbon. Therefore, Bourbon, Catuai, and Catimor varieties are often found among Rwandan coffee varieties. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the flavor profiles of these three are relatively close to Bourbon-style flavor characteristics, so Rwandan coffee beans often exhibit citrus and nut flavors in their coffee flavor expression.

Bourbon Variety:

Over 90% of Rwanda's coffee varieties are early-introduced Bourbon and Bourbon family hybrid varieties, which possess resistance to natural disasters. Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Réunion Island and introduced to Brazil in 1860, quickly expanding northward throughout Latin America. Generally, after Bourbon coffee trees flower and bear fruit, the color change of coffee cherries follows: green → light yellow → light orange → mature red → darker red when fully ripe. Therefore, some people call it "Red Bourbon." In fact, Red Bourbon is what we generally refer to as Bourbon. Bourbon grown at high altitudes typically has better aroma and brighter acidity.

For example, several Latin American Bourbon coffee beans that FrontStreet Coffee currently sources include Brazilian Red Bourbon, Brazilian Yellow Bourbon, and Colombian Pink Bourbon. However, the advantage of Bourbon varieties in Latin America no longer exists due to poor disease resistance. In contrast, Rwandan Bourbon varieties still maintain advantages, which is one of the reasons why FrontStreet Coffee sources Rwandan coffee beans.

Catuai Variety:

Catuai is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, being more compact. Since it inherited Bourbon lineage, its disease resistance is relatively weak, but its yield is higher than Bourbon.

Catimor Variety:

The Catimor variety is a coffee variety created through artificial hybridization of Catuai and Mundo Novo coffee tree varieties. Catimor has good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain resistance. Catimor trees are relatively low-growing, and compared to other coffee trees, Catimor fruits grow more firmly and are not easy to harvest. The fruits come in both red and yellow varieties. According to conclusions drawn from Frontsteet's practical coffee brewing, although some yellow-fruit processed coffees have good acidity, the cleanliness of the coffee taste is inferior to that of red fruits.

Rwanda Coffee Bean Processing Method

As described above, these coffee beans use the washed processing method. The greatest characteristic of washed processing is that it can present the most original flavors of coffee beans, with cleaner and brighter taste profiles. Therefore, many coffee-producing countries use this processing method to handle coffee beans. However, this method requires large amounts of water and can only be used in countries with relatively abundant water resources.

The above information has been compiled by FrontStreet Coffee regarding Rwanda Gishyita coffee beans. So how can we bring out the flavors of these coffee beans using pour-over coffee methods?

How to Brew Rwanda Gishyita Coffee Beans with Pour-Over?

FrontStreet Coffee believes that brewing a good pot of coffee mainly involves four aspects: water temperature, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and brewing technique.

1. Water Temperature

When brewing pour-over coffee with coffee beans of different roast levels, FrontStreet Coffee also chooses different water temperatures. During roasting, the substances contained in coffee beans are lost as the roast level deepens. Therefore, for dark roast coffee beans, to avoid extracting too many undesirable flavors, the temperature is reduced. For light to medium roast beans, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using water temperatures of 90-91°C, while for medium-dark roast beans, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using water temperatures of 87-89°C.

For example, this Rwanda Gishyita coffee bean mainly features citrus and nut flavors. To highlight this characteristic, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roast processing, so FrontStreet Coffee controls the brewing water temperature at 90-91°C.

2. Grind Size

Grind size refers to the size of coffee particles, as it affects the contact time between coffee and water. If the coffee grind is finer, water can extract more substances in the same amount of time, but with fine grinds, coffee is prone to over-extraction during the brewing process. Conversely, the coarser the coffee grind, the fewer substances extracted in the same amount of time, but coarser grinds can lead to under-extraction.

Additionally, because everyone's grinders are different, the parameters vary. Here, Frontsteet suggests everyone purchase a #20 cupping calibration sieve with 0.85mm mesh diameter. We take 10g of coffee beans, adjust to an approximate grind size and grind into coffee powder, then pour it into the sieve for screening. Weigh the screened coffee powder (you must continue screening until no more coffee powder can pass through).

A pass rate of 80% (10g of powder can yield 8g after screening) is the most suitable grind size for light to medium roast coffee beans. A pass rate of 70%-75% (10g of powder yields 7-7.5g after screening) is the most suitable grind size for medium-dark roast. If the pass rate exceeds the suitable range, appropriately adjust to a coarser grind size; if the pass rate doesn't reach the suitable range, appropriately adjust to a finer grind size.

3. Coffee-to-Water Ratio

This is the pour-over coffee water-to-coffee ratio extraction parameter taste difference that FrontStreet Coffee derived from SCAA Golden Cup extraction theory:

• Rich Flavor: 1:10～1:11 (equivalent to Golden Cup standard 1:12.5～1:13.5)
• Moderate Flavor: 1:12～1:13 (equivalent to Golden Cup standard 1:14.5～1:15.5)
• Light Flavor: 1:14～1:16 (equivalent to Golden Cup standard 1:16.5～1:18.5)

A coffee bean-to-water ratio of 1:14.5～1:15.5 most easily achieves the golden range of 18%～22% extraction rate and 1.15%～1.35% concentration.

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using the 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio when brewing this Rwanda Gishyita coffee bean, as it's less prone to errors.

4. Brewing Technique

Finally, pour-over techniques are also very important. Common techniques include three-stage pouring, single continuous pour, drip-by-drip method, etc. Here, FrontStreet Coffee recommends beginners use the three-stage pouring method to brew, as this technique is suitable for light roast, light to medium, and medium roast coffee beans. The segmented extraction of three-stage pouring can clearly define the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee, better ensuring flavor presentation.

After understanding the four pour-over elements above, FrontStreet Coffee will now share the brewing parameters for this Rwanda Gishyita coffee bean with everyone.

Rwanda Gishyita Coffee Bean Pour-Over Parameters:

• Dripper: V60
• Water Temperature: 90°C
• Coffee Amount: 15 grams
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
• Grind Size: BG#6m (Chinese standard #20 sieve 80% pass rate)

Brewing Technique: Segmented Extraction

Use 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds. With small water flow, pour in circles until reaching 125g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until reaching 225g, then stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. Extraction time is 2'00" (timing starts from bloom).

Brewing Flavor: Floral and berry aroma, with distinct citrus, berries, and plum on the palate. The middle section carries nutty notes, with a caramel sweetness in the aftertaste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473