Although Rwanda is a landlocked country in Africa, it enjoys favorable conditions such as high altitude, volcanic soil, and abundant sunshine, making it a coffee-producing region that cannot be ignored in the specialty coffee world. However, the 1994 genocide and the collapse of global coffee prices once dealt a heavy blow to its coffee industry. After independence, with the establishment of the official coffee organization OCIR, Rwanda gradually focused on improving quality and used the washed processing method to showcase the floral and citrus notes of the Bourbon variety. In this article, Front Street Coffee will guide you through the history of Rwandan coffee, the distribution of producing regions, and the washed processing flow, and use a Red Bourbon from the western shores of Lake Kivu as an example to share specific pour-over parameters and brewing suggestions, helping you extract a fresh and richly flavored cup. [more…]

Rwanda is a latecomer to African specialty coffee, and Nyungwe is its core producing region. This article takes you through the rapid rise of Rwandan coffee, the characteristics of the Nyungwe region, and its flavors in the cup. [more…]