How does Rwanda fit among coffee producing nations

Rwanda is a small landlocked coffee producing nation in central Africa whose Bourbon, Caturra and Catuai varieties and mostly washed processing have lifted it into specialty coffee. Cups tend to be balanced, with citrus, nuts and honey. Coffee arrived with German missionaries in the early 20th century, and quality suffered under colonial pricing and export taxes.

After independence, and later through the PEARL project's washing station construction, Rwandan coffee improved steadily. McDonald's McCafe added Rwandan beans to its espresso blend in 2020, at roughly 25 percent next to Brazil at 55 percent and Colombia and Ethiopia at 10 each. Its cup profile sits close to the burundi coffee flavor profile.

Although Rwanda is a small landlocked country in Africa, it has gradually emerged in the specialty coffee scene thanks to varieties such as Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai, and its predominantly washed processing methods. From the introduction of coffee during the colonial period to the PEARL project's promotion of washing station construction, Rwanda's coffee industry has traveled a winding road. This article will outline Rwanda's growing environment, main varieties, and washed processing procedures, and combine Front Street Coffee's cupping and brewing experience to present its balanced flavors of citrus, nuts, and honey. It will also review events such as McDonald's McCafe blend adjustment and Viya's livestream selling, helping readers gain a comprehensive understanding of the coffee charm of this "Land of a Thousand Hills."

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In October 2020, McDonald's McCafe announced the launch of a brand upgrade and planned to invest 2.5 billion yuan in its coffee segment over the following three years. This news sparked extensive discussion in coffee enthusiast communities. Along with the upgrade, McCafe also adjusted its espresso blend formula, adding Rwandan coffee beans to the original Colombia, Ethiopia, and Brazil base, with Rwanda accounting for about 25%, Brazil about 55%, and Colombia and Ethiopia each 10%.

Rwandan coffee thus re-entered the public eye. Although the country is not large in area, Rwanda does not lack good-quality coffee, and in recent years it has gradually appeared in various coffee shops. What exactly is the appeal of Rwandan coffee? This time, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will share with Rwandan coffee as its theme.

Rwandan Coffee

Rwanda is located in central Africa and is a standard landlocked country, with almost all its neighboring countries being major coffee producers. In the early 20th century, Rwanda successively became a colony of Germany and Belgium, and coffee was first introduced by German missionaries.

During colonial rule, although coffee production rose markedly, the exploitation of labor, suppressed crop prices, and high export taxes led to less-than-ideal coffee bean quality, which was also the general situation of commercial coffee development at the time.

It was not until after Rwanda gained independence and established its first official coffee organization, OCIR, that coffee bean production gradually received attention. Rwandan coffee production continued to grow from the 1960s to the 1980s and reached an unprecedented peak in 1986, until domestic political instability began in the early 1990s (the Rwandan genocide), after which the coffee industry fell into stagnation.

Today Rwanda has slowly regained its vitality. Whether in urban construction, public security, friendliness of the people, or cleanliness, it can be called an "atypical" African country. Rwanda is currently recognized as the safest country in Africa. In the "2017 World's Safest Countries and Destinations" ranking, Rwanda ranked ninth among all cities worldwide and was the only African country to enter the top ten.

Rwanda is a developing country whose economy is mainly based on agriculture and animal husbandry. People engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry account for 92% of the national population, among which coffee and tea are major cash crops. One in every 30 Rwandans works in a coffee-related industry. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rwandan coffee sales have undoubtedly suffered a considerable blow. To help Rwandan coffee farmers overcome difficulties, on May 14, Alibaba's top livestream host Viya recommended Rwandan Gorilla's coffee beans, selling a year's worth of sales in one second.

Rwanda's Coffee Growing Environment

As Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) said earlier, Rwanda is a landlocked country in Africa, with Burundi to the south, Tanzania to the east, Uganda to the north, and the Congo to the northwest.

Rwanda's reputation as the "Land of a Thousand Hills" comes from its overlapping mountains, including as many as five volcanoes. In addition to mountains, it also has 23 lakes and numerous rivers, with abundant water resources.

Rwanda has a temperate and tropical plateau climate, with an average temperature of 24.6 to 27 degrees Celsius, lower than that of typical equatorial countries. However, coffee is grown in mountainous areas such as the west, where temperatures are even lower than in the eastern lowlands and the temperature difference is also greater. For example, Lake Kivu in the north has an average altitude of 1,463 meters and an average daily temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. Combined with fertile volcanic soil, it is very suitable for growing coffee.

Rwandan Coffee Varieties

Common coffee varieties in Rwanda include Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that all three share a relatively similar Bourbon-family flavor profile, reminiscent of citrus and nuts.

Well-grown Bourbon coffee has excellent sweetness, while Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon and is characterized by higher yield than Bourbon and shorter planting distances between plants. The Catuai variety is even more productive and resistant to disease and wind and rain.

Rwandan Coffee Processing Methods

Rwandan coffee is mainly washed processed. The washed processing method first floats the harvested coffee cherries to remove coffee cherries with insufficient density, then removes the skin and pulp, and then lets the coffee beans with mucilage rest in a water tank to ferment. After fermentation is complete, the mucilage layer is washed off with clean water, and finally the coffee beans are dried to reduce their moisture content to about 11% to 13%. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that washed coffee has higher acidity, good cleanliness, and overall stable performance.

In 2000, after having just experienced domestic turmoil, Rwanda sought to improve its coffee industry. Led by Michigan State University in the United States, researchers from several schools and institutions, including Texas A&M University and the National University of Rwanda, came together to help Rwanda upgrade its coffee industry.

The project's name is abbreviated as PEARL (Chinese for "pearl"; full English name: Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages project). The PEARL project aimed to promote improvements in the quality and quantity of Rwandan coffee and help farmers obtain better incomes, forming a virtuous cycle.

After the implementation of the PEARL project, Rwanda successively built 46 coffee washing stations, allowing Rwanda's economy to grow significantly under strong coffee bean exports. The PEARL project was also Rwanda's largest and most complete development plan since independence.

In addition, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) also believes that one reason Rwanda chose washed processing as its main processing method was to achieve high and stable quality, and the second was that Rwanda has two rainy seasons each year, one from February to May and one from September to December, while the coffee harvest season is generally from March to June, almost during the first rainy season.

During the rainy season, although abundant rainfall benefits coffee growth, the rain also makes it difficult for Rwanda to carry out processing methods that require excessively long drying times, such as natural processing (averaging as long as 3 to 4 weeks), and natural and other processing methods are also less stable in coffee quality than washed processing.

Therefore, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) once selected a washed Rwandan Red Bourbon to put on the shelves. During cupping, this Rwandan Red Bourbon had obvious citrus and plum acidity, with nuts in the middle and back sections, and honey in the aftertaste. As the temperature dropped slightly, it showed obvious apple flavors, with a smooth mouthfeel, fresh finish, and good balance.

For brewing, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends a staged brewing method, using 15 grams of coffee grounds, a common V60 conical dripper, a water temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, and a medium-fine grind size with an 80% pass rate on a 0.85 mm standard sieve.

In the first stage, use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom. In the second stage, pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams, then pause. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring the third stage until 225 grams, then stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. The total extraction time (starting timing from the beginning of the bloom) is 2 minutes.

The conical V60 dripper increases coffee layering, the 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio increases coffee body and sweetness, and staged pouring keeps the coffee extraction time from being too short while allowing adjustments according to the beginning, middle, and end stages.

Rwanda's brewed flavor has obvious fruit acidity and nuts, and is overall balanced and smooth. Although its berry-like flavors are not as prominent as Kenya's, Rwanda, as a coffee-producing country that has only caught up in the past 20 years, still has room for improvement. It is believed that in the near future, more specialty coffee from Rwanda will enter the domestic market.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.