Why Rwanda Stands Out Among Coffee Growing Nations

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in central Africa, yet it has gained ground in specialty coffee through Bourbon-lineage varieties and washed processing. Washed Red Bourbon cups with berry, apple, green tea, and apricot notes. The article reviews Rwanda's growing environment, history, main varieties, and processing, then gives staged brewing parameters for Front Street Rwanda Red Bourbon.

Rwanda's coffee development followed a difficult path. Germany and later Belgium colonized the country, and coffee was first brought in by German missionaries; during colonial rule, low purchase prices and high export taxes hurt bean quality. After independence, the OCIR organization was established, output climbed through the 1960s to a peak in 1986, then stalled during the 1990s turmoil before rebuilding with the PEARL project.

Although Rwanda is a small landlocked country in Africa, in recent years it has gradually emerged in the specialty coffee scene thanks to Bourbon-lineage varieties and washed processing. From the perspective of Front Street Coffee, this article systematically reviews Rwanda's coffee-growing environment, historical development, main varieties, and processing methods, with a focus on the flavor performance and staged brewing approach of Front Street Rwanda Red Bourbon coffee. You will learn how Rwanda rebuilt its coffee industry with the help of the PEARL project, and how washed Red Bourbon presents berry, apple, green tea, and apricot notes in cupping. Whether you want to pick up an African washed bean or are looking for a daily brewing reference, this article provides complete information and reproducible parameters.

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Rwanda is not a large country in terms of land area, yet it produces quite a lot of high-quality coffee, and in recent years it has gradually appeared in cafes across the country. What exactly makes Rwandan coffee unique? This time, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will take Rwandan coffee as its theme and chat with everyone about it.

Rwandan Coffee

Rwanda is located in central Africa and is a landlocked country with no coastline, and nearly all of its neighboring countries are major coffee producers. In the early twentieth century, Rwanda was successively colonized by Germany and Belgium, and coffee was first introduced by German missionaries.

During the colonial period, although coffee production rose markedly, labor was exploited, coffee purchase prices were suppressed, and export taxes were high, so coffee bean quality was not ideal. This was also the general situation of commercial coffee development at the time.

After Rwanda gained independence, the first official coffee organization, OCIR, was established, and only then did coffee bean production gradually receive attention. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Rwanda's coffee production continued to climb, reaching an unprecedented peak in 1986. However, in the early 1990s, domestic turmoil (the Rwandan genocide) caused the coffee industry to fall into stagnation.

Today Rwanda has gradually regained its vitality. Whether in urban development, public security, or the friendliness of the people and environmental hygiene, it can be called an "exception" among African countries. Rwanda is currently recognized as one of the safest countries in Africa. In the "2017 World's Safest Countries and Destinations" list, Rwanda ranked ninth among global cities and was the only African country to enter the top ten.

Rwanda is a developing country, and its economy is mainly based on agriculture and animal husbandry, with the agricultural and pastoral population accounting for 92% of the country. Coffee and tea are the main cash crops, and on average 1 in every 30 Rwandans works in a coffee-related job.

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a clear blow to Rwanda's coffee sales. To help local coffee farmers get through the crisis, on May 14, Alibaba 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) mentioned earlier, Rwanda is a landlocked African country, bordered by Burundi to the south, Tanzania to the east, Uganda to the north, and Congo to the northwest.

Rwanda is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills," with layered mountains across its territory and as many as 5 volcanoes. Besides mountains, it also has 23 lakes and numerous rivers, so water resources are quite abundant.

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. Coffee is mostly grown in mountainous areas such as the west, where temperatures are lower than in the low-lying eastern regions and the temperature difference is also greater. For example, the average altitude of Lake Kivu in the north is 1,463 meters, with an average daily temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, and the fertile volcanic soil makes it very suitable for coffee cultivation.

Rwandan Coffee Varieties

Common coffee varieties in Rwanda include Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuaí. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that these three have relatively similar flavor profiles, all belonging to the Bourbon lineage, and are easily associated with citrus and nuts.

Well-grown Bourbon coffee has outstanding sweetness; Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, characterized by higher yield than Bourbon and shorter spacing between plants; Catuaí is even more productive, with stronger resistance to disease and wind and rain.

Rwandan Coffee Processing Methods

Rwandan coffee is mainly washed. During washing, the harvested coffee cherries are first floated to remove insufficiently dense fruit, then the skin and pulp are removed, and next the coffee beans with mucilage are left to ferment in water tanks. After fermentation is complete, the mucilage layer is washed off with clean water, and finally the coffee beans are dried until the moisture content drops 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 just experiencing internal chaos, Rwanda, in order to revitalize its coffee industry, was assisted by Michigan State University in the United States, together with Texas A&M University and the National University of Rwanda and other institutions, with multiple researchers jointly helping Rwanda upgrade its coffee industry.

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

After the implementation of the PEARL project, 46 coffee washing stations were successively built in Rwanda, and strong coffee bean exports drove significant economic growth. This project is also the largest and most complete development plan implemented since Rwanda became an independent nation.

In addition, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) also believes that Rwanda chose washing as its main processing method, first for high and stable quality, and second because Rwanda has two rainy seasons a year, from February to May and from September to December, while the coffee harvest season usually falls from March to June, almost entirely within the first rainy season.

Although the rainy season has abundant rainfall, which is beneficial to coffee growth, it also makes it difficult for Rwanda to carry out processing methods that require long drying periods, such as natural processing (on average as long as 3 to 4 weeks), and the coffee quality of natural and other methods is not as stable as washed.

Therefore, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has two Rwandan coffees, one is Front Street Gaseke coffee, and the other is Front Street Rwanda Red Bourbon coffee. Both use washed processing, and light roasting highlights floral and fruity aromas.

In cupping, this Rwandan Gaseke has obvious citrus and plum acidity, with nuts in the middle and back sections, and honey in the aftertaste; after the temperature drops slightly, it shows obvious berry-type flavors, with a smooth mouthfeel, a fresh finish, and good balance.

Front Street Coffee: Rwanda · Washed Red Bourbon Country: Rwanda Region: Nanshi Ke Altitude: 1,500–1,700 meters Variety: Red Bourbon Processing Method: Washed

Flavor: Berry, apple, green tea, apricot

In cupping, the dry aroma of Front Street washed Red Bourbon has the fresh scent of apple and green tea, as well as a faint floral note, very refreshing. After hot water is poured in, aromas of berries and green tea can be smelled. On the palate there is berry-like sweet acidity, and then the acidity quickly dissipates, revealing clean sweet flavors such as apple and apricot.

For brewing, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends staged brewing: 15 grams of coffee grounds, a common V60 conical dripper, water temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, medium-fine grind, with 80% passing through a 0.85 mm standard sieve.

For the first stage, use 30 grams of water to bloom for 30 seconds; for the second stage, pour in a small stream in circles until 125 grams, then pause, and when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring the third stage until 225 grams and then stop; when the water level drops again and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Start timing at the beginning of the bloom.) Total extraction time is 2 minutes.

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

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

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