What is Coffee?
Coffee is a beverage prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks.
What Is The Best Coffee In Rwanda?
Westrock Coffee Company Rwanda Select Reserve
This coffee brand has its coffee available in a single-serve pod that can be used in a Keurig-style brewer. It features a medium-dark roast that comes with impressive Earthy flavors that give it a sharp Rwandan elegance.
Westrock should be one of, if not, the first Rwandan coffees you should be trying out if you’re a lover of the drink. While its label claims dark roast, it is close to medium.
AmazonFresh Direct Trade Rwanda Ground Coffee
Second, on the list is AmazonFresh, and from its name, you should know what big company owns it. The AmazonFresh is direct trade from Rwanda and it doesn’t cost much.
It is one of the best Rwanda coffee you should be trying and it’s cheaper. Just like the first on this list, this coffee is exactly the kind of coffee you should be expecting from Rwanda.
Rwanda Bean Ikerekezo-Vision Premium Coffee Beans
Rwanda Bean Ikerekezo roast coffee’s big point is its taste, however, it is fairly expensive for a small amount of coffee. This is a coffee that can be used as a special treat rather than as an everyday drink. It is one of the best light roasts you can find in the Rwandan coffee market.
It can also be considered as a medium-light roast, which helps in balancing its flavor and brewing difficulty.
It is one of the highest quality coffee you can drink, the only drawback is its cost on the market, which is high when compared to other top-quality coffees like AmazonFresh and Westrock.
Which type of coffee is mostly grown in Rwanda?
Since the introduction of coffee trees to Rwanda by missionaries in 1904, coffee has progressed to become one of the country’s largest cash crops.
About 95% of beans are the high-quality Arabica varietal Bourbon, with a silky creamy body and hints of lemon and orange blossom, and caramel in the aftertaste
QUALITY VS QUANTITY OF COFFEE IN RWANDA
Putting high-quality coffee ahead of quantity in Rwanda is a smart policy. The country is unlikely to compete with the big league of producers in the coffee industry around the world. Apart from its small size, the nation is landlocked so delivery over a long distance is difficult, to say the least.
The coffee has to be shipped from the container ports at Mombasa or Dar Es Salaam, after a 1,000-mile trip through Kenya or Tanzania. This overland trip alone takes many hours and can cost as much as shipping the goods from Africa to the United States!
With a significant investment from the central government in Kigali, Rwanda’s specialty coffee business is developing strongly.
The Coffee Upgrade & Promotion Rwanda (CUP Rwanda), a technical program, has set up model coffee plantations in Rwanda to teach growers the best methods and agricultural practices to produce their beans.
At the same time, many farmers have been able to establish cooperatives with a handful of local roasters, which boosts the producers’ livelihoods as prices for roast coffee beans are double what they can ask for green coffee beans.
WHAT DOES RWANDAN COFFEE TASTE LIKE?
The best Rwanda coffee is one for the discerning palate. Many connoisseurs of Rwanda coffee beans compare its taste to that of its counterparts from Kenya and Ethiopia although thanks to the various brew methods, independent plantations, and individual roaster techniques, you will discover a great variation in the flavor profiles of this country’s coffees.
The most popular Red Bourbon beans give you medium-bodied, creamy coffee, with a sweet and mellow finish packed full of aroma and flavor.
Aficionados of Rwanda’s coffees enjoy a taste of caramel and spices, detecting notes of orange blossom and fruit such as raspberries and cherries.
With a light roast or medium roast, such coffees are ideal accompaniments to sweet fruity desserts such as crumbles or cakes and go very well with white chocolate.
Our medium roast Rwanda coffee gives you a smooth mellow brew with balanced acidity and a sweet lingering aftertaste.
HOW TO IMPORT COFFEE FROM RWANDA?
Importing coffee from Rwanda is no easy task, given its landlocked position. If you are wondering how to buy Rwanda coffee beans without trekking to another continent, Coffee Direct is here to help.
We offer some of the finest, handpicked beans from Rwanda, available roasted, or as green coffee beans if you prefer to roast them yourself. Our Rwanda single-origin coffee from the Lake Kivu region is a smooth mellow cup with balanced acidity and a sweet lingering aftertaste.
HOW TO ROAST RWANDA COFFEE?
The best roast profile for Rwanda coffee will vary according to your preferences, the region of origin for the beans, and how they have been processed.
Generally speaking, however, these beans work very well with a lighter roast. This brings out the acidic fruity flavor profile and unique aromas. If you prefer medium to dark roasts, the beans will still taste great but with a fuller body.
As these beans are grown at high altitudes, they tend to be quite dense and transfer heat well, meaning you will need to roast them at high temperatures, to ensure they are roasted and not baked.