Rwanda Gishamwana Island

Variety: Burbon

Process: Washed

Tasting Notes:  Cherry Jam, Dark Chocolate and Hibiscus Tea

Rwandan coffees are special: Not just because the flavour profile is out of this world (and it is), but also because the industry itself has such deep national significance. It’s been a coffee-producing country since the early 1900s, and by the 1990s coffee was the primary export, despite catastrophically low market prices. However, the tragedy of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 threw the population into confusion and tumult socially, economically, and morally. In the recovery efforts, both government agencies and foreign aid turned in part to the emerging specialty coffee market, encouraging people to plant trees on their small sustenance farms, to focus on quality, and to capture the growing international interest. By 2003, new washing stations were being built, and Rwanda now has more than 400,000 families that make their primary income from coffee.