Rwandan Coffee Bean Origin: Terroir and Flavor

Rwanda is a small landlocked African country that has secured a place on the specialty coffee map through high altitude, volcanic soil, and Bourbon-lineage varieties. Rwandan coffee typically shows citrus, plum, nut, and honey notes; the washed Giseke lot cupped earlier by Front Street carried exactly those characteristics. In October 2020 Rwandan beans returned to wider attention when McCafe added them at about 25 percent of its espresso blend.

Coffee was introduced to Rwanda in the early 20th century by German missionaries, and during colonial rule output climbed while quality suffered from low prices and heavy export taxes. After independence the first official coffee organization, OCIR, was formed, and production grew through the 1960s and 1980s, peaking in 1986 before the political turmoil of the early 1990s halted the industry. Among coffee growing nations, Rwanda remains a small but distinct highland source.

Although Rwanda is a small landlocked country in Africa, it has gradually secured a place on the specialty coffee map thanks to its high altitude, volcanic soil, and Bourbon-lineage varieties. This article systematically examines the causes behind Rwandan coffee's flavor, from its geographical environment and historical evolution to its main varieties, washed processing methods, and the PEARL industry improvement plan. Front Street Coffee has previously offered washed Rwandan Giseke, which in cupping displayed citrus, plum, nut, and honey notes. This article also includes its recommended staged V60 brewing parameters for enthusiasts to reference.

In October 2020, McDonald's McCafe announced the launch of a brand upgrade, planning to invest 2.5 billion yuan in its coffee business over the next three years, a piece of news that sparked considerable discussion in coffee circles. Alongside the upgrade, McCafe adjusted its espresso blend formula, adding Rwandan coffee beans to the original Colombian, Ethiopian, and Brazilian components, with Rwanda accounting for about 25%, Brazil 55%, and Colombia and Ethiopia 10% each.

Rwandan coffee thus re-entered the public eye. Despite its small land area, Rwanda produces quite a lot of high-quality coffee, which has been appearing on cafe menus in recent years. What exactly is the appeal of Rwandan coffee? Front Street Coffee takes Rwandan coffee as its theme and brings the following sharing.

Rwandan Coffee

Rwanda is located in central Africa and is a typical landlocked country, with almost all its neighboring countries being major coffee producers. In the early 20th century, Rwanda was colonized by Germany and then Belgium, and coffee was initially introduced by German missionaries.

During the colonial period, although coffee production rose sharply, labor was exploited, crop prices were suppressed, and high export taxes meant 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, Rwandan coffee production continued to grow, reaching a historic peak in 1986, until domestic political turmoil in the early 1990s (the Rwandan genocide) brought the coffee industry to a halt.

Today Rwanda has gradually regained its vitality, and in terms of urban appearance, public security, friendliness of the people, and 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 placed ninth among global cities 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, with 92% of the population engaged in these sectors. Coffee and tea are the main cash crops, and one in every 30 Rwandans works in a coffee-related industry. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rwandan coffee sales suffered a considerable blow. To help local coffee farmers get through the crisis, on May 14, Alibaba livestream host Viya recommended Rwandan Gorilla's coffee beans and sold a year's worth of sales in one second.

Rwanda's Coffee-Growing Environment

As Front Street Coffee has previously stated, Rwanda is a landlocked country in Africa, bordered by Burundi to the south, Tanzania to the east, Uganda to the north, and the Congo to the northwest.

Rwanda is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills," with layered mountains across its territory and as many as five volcanoes. In addition to the mountains, there are 23 lakes and numerous rivers, making water resources abundant.

Rwanda has a temperate and tropical highland 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, Lake Kivu in the north has an average altitude of 1,463 meters and an average daily temperature of about 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 believes that these three have relatively similar flavor profiles, all belonging to the Bourbon lineage, and easily call to mind citrus and nuts.

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

Rwandan Coffee Processing Methods

Rwandan coffee is mainly washed processed. In washed processing, the harvested coffee cherries are first floated to remove insufficiently dense fruit, then the skin and pulp are removed, and 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 around 11% to 13%. Front Street Coffee believes that washed coffee has higher acidity, good cleanliness, and generally stable performance.

In 2000, Rwanda, having just experienced internal chaos, sought to improve its coffee industry. Michigan State University in the United States led the effort, jointly with multiple researchers from institutions including Texas A&M University and the National University of Rwanda, to help Rwanda upgrade its coffee industry.

The plan is abbreviated as PEARL (meaning "pearl" in Chinese; the full English name is Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages project). The PEARL plan aimed 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 plan, 46 coffee washing stations were successively built in Rwanda, and strong coffee bean exports drove significant economic growth. The plan was also the largest and most complete development plan implemented since Rwanda's independence.

In addition, Front Street 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 is generally from March to June, almost entirely within the first rainy season.

Although the rainy season provides abundant rainfall, which is beneficial to coffee growth, it also makes it difficult for Rwanda to carry out processing methods that require longer drying times, such as natural processing (on average as long as 3 to 4 weeks), and the coffee quality of natural and other methods is also less stable than washed.

Therefore, Front Street Coffee once chose a washed Rwandan Giseke to offer, with varieties also being Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. During cupping, this Rwandan Giseke had obvious citrus and plum acidity, with nuts in the middle and back sections, honey in the aftertaste, and after the temperature dropped slightly, obvious berry-like flavors. The mouthfeel was smooth, the finish refreshing, and the balance good.

For brewing, Front Street Coffee recommends staged brewing: 15 grams of coffee, 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. 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 and then stop. 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 can increase coffee layering, 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 fruit acidity and nuts, and is balanced and smooth overall. 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 last 20 years, still has room for improvement, and I believe more specialty coffees from Rwanda will enter the domestic market in the near future.

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