Rwanda
Kamigeri

Washed process Bourbon

Flavour: barley sugar, blood orange jam

Body: Acidity:

Rwanda, where this week’s coffee originates, is another relatively new country to specialty coffee.

Until the year 2000 most Rwandan coffee was low quality and sold to the domestic market. In 2001 moves were made to start privatising coffee farms and establishing private washing stations, and now there are over 300 washing stations across Rwanda.

This work by the Rwandan government together with foreign partners in the coffee trade (such as Nordic Approach, once again our sourcing partner for this coffee) has helped lift the quality rather than the quantity of crops. This increased quality has allowed Rwandan coffee to compete on the world specialty coffee market, and has meant an increase in the price per kilogram.

According to research by the World Bank, the average export price of Rwandan coffee nearly doubled between 2003 and 2008.

It takes a lot of people to bring you coffee

In the case of the coffee you’re drinking this week, the beans came from almost a thousand smallholder farmers, who each have relatively small crops of less than 200 trees.

One tree produces an average of 1.7 kg of coffee cherries, meaning it takes hundreds of farmers, in some cases even thousands, to produce and deliver enough cherries to a washing station for one ‘lot’ of coffee.

Rwanda has around 500,000 coffee farmers, and over 4,000 new jobs were created by the new private wet mills between 2001–2006.

Learn everything about this coffee:

Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

Dose: 20g ground coffee
Yield: 60g espresso
Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
Labels: recyclable
Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer: Epiphany Muhirwa
Country: Rwanda
Region: Nyamagabe
Altitude: 1700 – 2000m above sea level
Variety: Bourbon
Process: washed
Harvested: June 2014
Importer: Silo / Nordic Approach
Body: Light
Acidity: Bright
Tasting notes: Barley sugar, blood orange jam
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Variety

Bourbon variety

A natural mutation of the Typica varietal, Bourbon is named after Reunion Island (then known as Il Bourbon) where the French cultivated the Typica plants which naturally mutated.

The location

Coffee from Rwanda

Since the genocide of 1994, coffee has come to represent a symbol of recovery and regrowth for Rwanda.

The Southern and Western Region region of Rwanda

Centred around 3 main areas; the Huye mountains, the Nyamagabe region, and the Nyamasheke region in close proximity to Lake Kivu

Farm processes

Washed process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.