Rwanda| Introduction to varieties grown in coffee producing areas

The flavor of African coffee beans is characterized by strong aroma and charming acidity, while Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya are well known, but there is another country with good quality, that is Rwanda.

Rwanda Rwanda

Rwanda, whose full name is the Republic of Rwanda (Republic of Rwanda), is located on the East African Plateau in east-central Africa and is a landlocked country, bordering Tanzania in the east, Burundi in the south, Congo (DRC) in the west and Uganda in the north, covering an area of 26338 square kilometers. The country is divided into four provinces: East, South, West, North and Kigali.

The national flag of Rwanda is designed by an artist and is made up of blue, yellow and green. Among them, the blue flag is the largest, representing the people fighting for peace, enabling sustained economic growth and bringing about a happy life. On the other hand, yellow represents that people live and work in peace and contentment and promote permanent economic development. Green symbolizes the hope of prosperity from the reasonable development of resources by the people, and also symbolizes the resources of the country. At the top right of the flag, there is a sun sign of 24 rays of light, and 24 rays of light guide the people of the whole country, indicating unity, innocence and transparency, and the struggle against ignorance.

Rwanda has beautiful scenery, has an extraordinary variety of biological species, there are many wild animals scattered in Rwanda's volcanoes, mountain rain forests and vast plains. Rwanda, with an average elevation of 1600 meters, is mountainous and is known as the "country of a thousand hills". It has five volcanoes, 23 lakes and many rivers, forming the source of the Nile.

Rwanda is close to the equator and has a tropical plateau climate, but the temperature is lower than that of typical equatorial countries, with an average temperature of 25-28 ℃. In Rwanda, February to June, September to October is the rainy season, the rest is the dry season, the average annual rainfall is 1200-1600 mm, the natural conditions are very suitable for coffee growth.

Coffee producing area

Coffee producing areas are divided by provinces, mainly divided into Muhazi Muhazi, Lake Kivu Kive and Virunga Virunga area, and the harvest time is usually from March to August.

Muhazi Muhazi, located in Lake Muhazi, a resort in eastern Rwanda, has rich coffee flavors, chocolate flavor and a strong smoothness of black tea.

Lake Kivu Kive is located in the west and belongs to the East African Rift Valley. Lake Kivu is a volcanic lake about 1500 meters above sea level, where high-quality coffee with rich, fragrant and juicy taste is steadily produced.

The more famous producing areas in the south are Huye, with an average elevation of 1700 to 2200 meters above sea level, producing coffee with floral and citrus flavors.

Virunga Virunga is located in the mountains of northwestern Rwanda, ranging from 1900 to 2200 meters above sea level. This area is the hometown of famous mountain gorillas. The coffee is sweet and vibrant, silky and has obvious flavors of walnuts and nuts.

Coffee variety

The main varieties of coffee grown in these areas are bourbon and Mibirizi, and some of them will grow jackson.

Mibirizi, the oldest variety in Rwanda and a natural variety of Bourbon, is currently an important variety grown by coffee farmers in Rwanda and Burundi. At first, the German government introduced Rwanda from Guatemala and thought it was of iron pickup ancestry, because at that time 100% of iron pickups were grown in Guatemala, and later genetic tests were indeed related to the iron pickup gene. This variety is of good quality and drought tolerance, but it is extremely susceptible to major diseases.