Rwanda Philippe Sinoyobye: Sample Coffee Roasters

Rwanda
Philippe Sinoyobye

Philippe is a member of the Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa Maraba cooperative, who own their own dry mill where they can process smaller lots individually. We taste cherry, golden sultana, and mandarin.

Body Acidity

Roasted omni for filter and espresso

We’re blessed once again with an unusual single-producer lot by Rwandan Philippe Sinoyobye.

Most Rwandan specialty coffee lots are sold under the name of the cooperative that mixes and processes them. Only a few, like Philippe (or Marie Bedabasingwa or Andre Hakizimana), produce large enough harvests to sell them as their very own product.

Philippe Sinoyobye and his wife, Angelique Muhayimana, manage a piece of land in the lush, green hills of the Huye District in Rwanda’s Southern Province. Coffee cherries grow at 1800 masl, producing around 6,000kg of cherry yearly.

These are processed at the Maraba Kabuye washing station, which recently upgraded its cherry sorting equipment, installed water treatment facilities and constructed a storage warehouse where the coffee is safely kept before being transported to Kigali for the final stages of milling and preparation for export. No wonder—the Maraba Cooperative has consistently been recognised for quality, including numerous Cup of Excellence awards in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015.

Philippe’s farm.

(If you’re interested, you can read more about the producer and the cooperative at Melbourne Coffee Merchant’s site.)

This lot is a traditionally washed Red Bourbon with all the classic traits of Rwandan coffees: medium body, high acidity and sweet, citrusy flavours. Really, really pleasant.

All the images and information about this coffee and its producers have been kindly shared by the importer, MCM, and edited by us, Sample Coffee (unless linked to or credited otherwise).

Resting your beans inside the sealed bag helps develop peak flavours and acidity.

Learn how long and why you should wait on our brewing window recommendations guide.

Try our step-by-step recipes and videos.

Our recipes are easy to follow and designed to bring the best out of our coffee. Find your favourite method on our brew guides collection or test a new one—and if you have any questions, ask us anytime at [email protected].

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Red Bourbon coffee beans, provided by Melbourne Coffee Merchants and roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

1:3
dose:yield
ratio

To brew on espresso, we recommend using 20g of beans (dose) to get 60g of espresso out (yield), during 24-28 seconds.

g dose

g yield

View the how to brew espresso (single origin) guide.

1:16.7
beans:water
ratio

To brew in infusion/fed brewers (V60, Chemex) use a ratio of 1:16.7 ratio of beans:water.

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:14.3
beans:water
ratio

To brew in immersion brewers (plunger, AeroPress, Kalita, batch brewer) we recommend using a 1:14.3 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:12
beans:water
ratio

To brew as cold brew we recommend using a 1:12 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

Producer: Philippe Sinoyobye
Country: Rwanda
Region: Huye District
Altitude: 1800m above sea level
Varietals: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
Body: Medium
Acidity: Bright
Tasting notes: Cherry, golden sultana, and mandarin
Roast style: Omni

Varietals

Red Bourbon varietal

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.