RWANDA - INZOVU PEABERRY

It's been a hot minute since we have had a coffee from Rwanda in our offering but here it is. We have been excited to bring this to you since our first tasting of it. Rwanda is blessed with ideal coffee growing conditions that include high altitude, regular rainfall, volcanic soils with good organic structure and an abundance of Bourbon. The vast majority of Rwandan coffee is produced by smallholders of which there are thought to be around half a million with parcels of land often not much larger than just one hectare per family. Coffee is grown in most parts of the country, with particularly large concentrations along Lake Kivu and in the southern province. Rwandan smallholders organise themselves into cooperatives and share the services of centralised wet-mills – or washing stations as they are known locally.

This Inzovu blend is composed of a mixture of coffees from the Western and southern areas of Rwanda generally grown on mid-high altitude of the many hills that compose the landscape in the country. It epitomises the characteristic flavour profile that is truly unique to this terroir, after receiving the coffee as parchment from many washing station the guys at RTC (Rwanda Trading Company) are meticulously cupping the lots and select the ones that are going to be part of the signature Inzovu and compose the lot as the season progress. Once the season is finished and it is time for millling the coffee, it is sorted and all the Peaberrys are kept separate due to their smaller screen size and they are going to compose a separate lot that maintain the flavour profile of the original lot and often it happens to have a more distinctive acidity and bigger and bolder mouthfeel in the cup, like in this case. 

This coffee is truly exciting and flavourful with Pink Grapefruit at the forefront. This is balanced by the sweetness of a toffee apple and Milk Chocolate finish. Exceptional either way it is prepared. For a very interesting espresso this is highly recommended or any other conventional filter methods, we loved it on the clever dripper and Aeropress.

COFFEE DETAILS

• Origin - Southern and Western Rwanda
• Producer - Various Smallholders
• Varietal - Red Bourbon
• Altitude - 1400 - 1600 MASL
• Process - Washed
• Notes - Pink Grapefruit, Toffee Apple & Milk Chocolate
• Cupping Score - 85.5