Rwanda Nyamasheke Coffee

A washed Red Bourbon from Nyamasheke, on the shore of Lake Kivu in western Rwanda. The lake keeps the hills cool and steady, and the cup is blackberry, bergamot and caramel over black tea.

Origin & Story

Nyamasheke is a district on the shore of Lake Kivu, one of Africa's Great Lakes, in the far west of Rwanda, between the lake and Nyungwe National Park. Coffee grows on terraced hillsides there, at roughly 1,500 to 1,900 meters, and importers say the lake moderates the temperature and keeps moisture steady, which slows the ripening of the cherries.

The farms are small. Rwanda has around 400,000 coffee smallholdings, and most of the crop is Bourbon. Farmers pick by hand and carry ripe cherry to a washing station, where it is pulped, fermented, washed and dried on raised beds.

Coffee came to Rwanda in the early 1900s with German colonists, and under Belgian rule growing it became mandatory. It remains one of the country's main exports, and only a small share is drunk at home.

Most Rwandan coffee is exported. Less than a fifth is drunk at home, and the main buyers are the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Singapore. The sector puts weight on shade-grown farming, fair prices and traceability, so a bag can often be followed back to the washing station that made it.

Nyamasheke's washed lots are known for refined sweetness, red-fruit complexity and a silky body. Here that shows as blackberry, bergamot and caramel, with black tea in the finish.

Reading the Flavor Profile

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