Introduction to Rwandan Coffee Beans: Flavor Profile and Taste Characteristics

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Introduction to Rwandan Coffee

Today, FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce everyone to Rwandan coffee. Rwanda is located in the central region of Africa and is a landlocked country close to coffee-producing giants like Ethiopia. Logically speaking, Rwanda's coffee industry should have been influenced by the surrounding coffee powerhouses, and its coffee industry should not be far behind. FrontStreet Coffee will now briefly explain the reasons.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Rwanda experienced a major event in 1994. A genocide occurred between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, causing nearly 1 million people to lose their lives. Coupled with the sharp drop in global coffee prices at that time, this had a huge impact on Rwanda's coffee industry.

After experiencing the genocide, Rwanda lost a large amount of labor, leaving only women and children. Rwanda's economic level at that time was very low. To improve economic strength, combined with Rwanda's national conditions at the time, the only way was to rely on coffee cultivation to improve people's living standards. According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, coffee production at that time did indeed have a positive impact on Rwanda's overall economic recovery.

Rwanda's Coffee History and Production

Although Rwanda is a very famous coffee-producing region on the African continent, we rarely can drink coffee from Rwanda on the market. Regarding Rwandan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has only listed one Gisheke coffee, and the reasons for this are very complex. In the early 20th century, Rwanda successively became a colony of Germany and Belgium. German missionaries first introduced coffee to this African heartland. The cultivation area gradually extended from the earliest Kivu region to the entire country. Most Rwandan coffee is a variety of Bourbon coffee. At that time, the Belgian government strictly suppressed the quality of Rwanda's exported coffee, forcing Rwanda's coffee industry to remain in a "high production, low quality" low-price coffee situation. At that time, there were almost no real washing stations for processing coffee within the country.

It was not until after Rwanda gained independence and established the first official coffee organization OCIR that attention was gradually paid to coffee bean production. Rwanda has a temperate and tropical highland climate, with good coffee growing conditions such as high altitude, volcanic soil, and abundant sunlight. Many of its coffee trees are planted on mountains between 1700 and 2000 meters altitude, so Rwanda is also known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills."

Rwanda's Coffee Growing Regions

Rwanda's Arabica coffee bean growing areas are mainly distributed in the southern and western regions. The Huye mountainous area and Nyamagabe region in the south, due to higher altitude, have coffee beans with floral and citrus flavors; while the Nyamasheke region on the shores of Lake Kivu in the west produces high-quality coffee with rich, aromatic, and juicy characteristics. The main growing regions include:

Southern Region: Huye, high altitude, coffee has floral notes and citrus acidity.

Western Region: Lake Kivu, coffee has richer taste with fruity juice characteristics.

Eastern Region: Ngoma Lakes, with chocolate and fruity flavors.

Northern Region: Features citrus, nut, and caramel flavors.

The Gisheke coffee listed by FrontStreet Coffee belongs to the Nyamasheke region on the western shores of Lake Kivu, mainly consisting of Bourbon mixed varieties.

Coffee Varieties and Processing

Over 90% of Rwanda's coffee varieties are Bourbon varieties introduced early on, as well as mixed varieties from the Bourbon family. Therefore, these coffee trees have good disease resistance and can withstand general natural disasters. Bourbon coffee was initially popular throughout Latin America, but due to poor disease resistance, fewer countries now grow it. FrontStreet Coffee currently purchases several Latin American Bourbon coffee beans, including Brazilian Red Bourbon, Brazilian Yellow Bourbon, and Colombian Pink Bourbon. In comparison, Rwandan Bourbon still maintains an advantage, which is one of the reasons why FrontStreet Coffee lists Rwandan coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the processing method used for coffee beans is very important. Rwandan coffee is mainly washed processed. The general processing process is as follows: The harvested coffee cherries undergo flotation to remove insufficient density cherries, then the pulp is removed. Next, the coffee beans with mucilage are left to ferment in water tanks. The purpose of fermentation is to avoid damaging the coffee flavor. After fermentation is complete, the mucilage layer is washed away with clean water, and finally the clean coffee beans still with parchment are sent for drying. Some coffee beans are dried on net beds for 15-22 days, allowing the moisture content of the green coffee beans to drop to around 11% to 13%.

Rwanda pays great attention to details during the washing process. Their coffee farmers select unripe cherries after harvesting coffee cherries, and only red cherries are sent to the pulping machine. FrontStreet Coffee also believes that washed coffee has higher acidity, good cleanliness, and stable overall performance.

Therefore, when FrontStreet Coffee recommends coffee beans from a specific region, we always recommend washed coffee beans first, because washing is the processing method that best reflects the essential flavors of coffee, allowing us to understand the flavor characteristics of that region through washed coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee greatly appreciates Rwanda's adoption of the washing process as the main processing method, believing it to be a wise choice.

Rwanda's Coffee Development

Subsequently, Rwanda's coffee development has been relatively rapid. In 2010, it hosted the Cup of Excellence competition, becoming the only African country to have held the Cup of Excellence competition. Through the Cup of Excellence's online bidding system, buyers were able to find the highest quality coffee batches, thereby promoting Rwandan coffee to the market. Recently, Viya helped Rwanda, our friendly country, in her livestream by promoting local coffee beans, which had a very positive impact on Rwandan coffee.

Potato Defect and Quality

Rwanda has performed well in the Cup of Excellence, but was disqualified from two competitions due to potato flavor. Perhaps FrontStreet Coffee readers don't understand what it means for coffee beans to have potato flavor. FrontStreet Coffee will explain this here. Actually, potato flavor is a manifestation of quality defects in green coffee beans. It can be smelled when the beans are green, and can also be detected when roasting or grinding roasted beans. There are different opinions about the cause of potato flavor formation. FrontStreet Coffee agrees with one theory that this flavor formation may be caused by bacteria left by insects in coffee fruits, which has a very destructive effect on coffee production. Fortunately, the Rwandan coffee beans sourced by FrontStreet Coffee do not have potato flavor. So everyone can rest assured when purchasing this bean from FrontStreet Coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee has also undergone extensive flavor recognition training to distinguish the coffee flavors of the Rwandan region. Therefore, when roasting this Rwandan coffee, to highlight Rwanda's fresh acidity, rich mouthfeel, and floral and citrus flavors, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-light roasting, because the deeper the roast, the more fruit acidity is lost.

Rwanda Gisheke Coffee Details

Here, FrontStreet Coffee provides specific information about this Rwandan coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee: Rwanda Gisheke Coffee Beans

Coffee Region: Nyamasheke

Processing Station: Gisheke Processing Station

Growing Altitude: 1700 to 2000 meters

Processing Method: Washed Process

Coffee Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai

Flavor Notes: Citrus sweetness, bright acidity, berries, apple, honey sweetness in the middle section, excellent sweetness and balance, almond and chocolate finish

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