#30 Rwanda

Justin, who also cultivates his own coffee, produces exceptional cherry quality and is very experienced in processing.

Having grown up in the local area, Justin returned after a period away, investing in the community by establishing a wet mill on his father's coffee plantation. In addition to his own 8-hectare farm, he buys cherries from neighbouring smallholders. While this region may not be as renowned for quality coffees as some other parts of Rwanda, it has high altitudes and an increasing number of farmers venturing into coffee cultivation at these elevations.

These lots possess a distinctive character, setting them apart from other Rwandan coffees. Justin's well-organised operations, combined with his efforts on the ground to enhance quality, consistently bring exceptional results in the cup.

The season in Rwanda can run from March to August, but for the most part, our selections come from cherries picked between May and July. This can always shift a little depending on the weather and the altitude the coffee is being grown at.

Within the local community, various smallholder farmers deliver their cherries to the Mahembe washing station for processing. In addition, Justin himself cultivates cherries.

The farms are predominantly small, family-run operations. Families manage plant care and cherry picking, often cultivating additional crops for personal consumption. Some farmers, however, operate on larger plots of land.

Coffees from Rwanda are usually high weight with a long aftertaste.

This one in particular is pleasent and the body less heavy with a medium weight, which is smooth and velvety.  

When calibrating your espresso shot, make sure you bring out a medium to high acidity. A shorter extraction time is recommended. The coffee beans are also bigger than a ie. a bourbon variety -´ and sometimes they have a tendency to jump in the grinder during the grinding process depending on your grinder. 

- so make sure your grinder is filled with a little bit more than usual. I always recommend as little as possible. But in this case, you want to maintain a homogeneous gravity when the beans get in contact with your burrs.

The dose is calculated using a 20g VST porta filter.

Min dose is 19g/ and Max dose 21 g. pr dobb espresso.    

This coffee is ideal to brew on Siphon, Chemex, Hario, Stagg fellow and December dripper Brew/ratio mass depends on how you pour the water, the weight of your coffee and the length of your brew. I like to recommend that you try to use different pouring techniques. So you will find out what will suit you and the coffee you have in your hands.

Step 1

Prefinfusion = Using water to wet the coffee, so the particle can absorb water, giving access to flavour and aromas. As a rule when you use less coffee, less water is used to preinfusion. "just enough to cover the coffee in the filter".

Step 2

Blooming = this is where the coffee particles is expanding, as any cellular products, giving access to transform the coffee attributes in to flavours and aromas. As a genius = less coffee/shorter blooming time. More Coffee/longer blooming time = that make sense right? Ie. 33 g of coffee = 30 sec blooming time. 60 g of coffee = 50-60 sec blooming time.

Step 3

Building up your coffee in the filter = you coffee brewing times length and letting you coffee steep in the filter. Coffee needs to be handled firm and homogenises.

Ie. Dont let your coffee set/sit or "dry out in the filter" when you pour the water in your coffee filter. Vise versa, you have to be careful, that you don't pour too much water, so you create a "swimming pool" on top of the coffee in the filter. The coffee should have a smooth "run through" contact time with water. You can find inspiration on brew guides