Speciality Coffee Highlight -Rwanda Bourbon Karengera

Brian Longley • 27 January 2019

Speciality Coffee Beans - Rwanda Bourbon Karengera

What makes Rwandan speciality coffee beans so good?

German missionaries first brought coffee to Rwanda in 1903 and due to the ideal growing conditions coffee plants grew well and produced ripe harvests of coffee beans. After initially pursuing a quantity versus quality strategy for their coffee beans the coffee farmers in Rwanda have realised the benefits that speciality coffee status brings and have realigned behind a speciality coffee strategy.

Natural resources enhance the speciality coffee beans

The high altitude, regular rainfall pattern, volcanic soil coupled with a good organic structure and abundance of the bourbon coffee varietal give Rwanda the ideal growing conditions for speciality coffee beans. Rwanda produces some of the finest speciality coffees in the world. Growing conditions are such that around half a million smallholder farms are thought to produce the fresh coffee beans often from not much more than a hectare of land.

Lake Kivu is one of the two largest growing locations for coffee beans and this is where the Karengara farm and coffee processing and washing station for the freshly harvested coffee beans is located. Situated at an altitude of around 1650m above sea level the rich volcanic soil on the Karengara farm produces fantastic coffee beans and ultimately a speciality coffee that scores 89.25 on the SCA (Speciality Coffee of America) cupping protocol. This Q score places the Rwanda Bourbon Karengara speciality coffee firmly in the top end of the Excellent category.

How does it compare as a speciality coffee?

Like many speciality coffees the harvested coffee cherries are fully washed and sun dried on raised African drying beds. The finished coffee beans are given a medium to light roast. The tasting notes which accompanied a previous batch of Rwandan Karengara bourbon coffee beans described the coffee as super juicy with a creamy body accompanied with tropical fruits with a very clean finish.

Not many speciality coffees can rate such a high Q score and the Rwandan Bourbon Karengara coffee bean is indeed an excellent speciality coffee.

How can I buy speciality coffee beans?

The nature of speciality coffee growing in single harvest small batches means that the coffee is only available for short periods. Blue J Coffee sources these speciality coffees as they become available and supplies them as speciality coffee beans in 250g sealed kraft pouches. The speciality coffee pouches are labelled front and back with the single origin speciality coffee producer information plus the Q score and tasting notes for each batch. Visit our online store or get in touch for more details on speciality coffee beans.

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