Introduction to the characteristics of flavor and taste in Rwanda boutique coffee manor

Rwanda is located in the south of the equator in east-central Africa, a landlocked country. It is bordered by Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, Zaire to the west and northwest, and Uganda to the north, with a land area of 26338 square kilometers, ranking 149th among all countries in the world and close to Burundi, Macedonia, Haiti and Albania. Rwanda is located in east-central Africa, bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, and Burundi to the south. The country is landlocked within several latitudes south of the equator. Kigali, the capital, is located near the center of the country, where the watershed between the Congo basin and the Nile basin runs through Rwanda from north to south, with about 80 per cent of the country draining from the Nile and about 20 per cent from the Luzi River and Lake Tanganyika. The longest river in the country is the Niabalongo River (Nyabarongo River) in the southwest, which turns north, east and southeast into the Ruwuwu River and forms the Kagera River, which flows due north along the eastern border of Tanzania. Both the Niabarongo River and the Cagella River will eventually flow into Lake Victoria. There are many lakes in Rwanda, of which Lake Kivu is the largest. The lake is located at the bottom of the Aberdeen Rift Valley and extends along the western border of Rwanda. With a maximum depth of 480 meters, it is one of the 20 deepest lakes in the world. Other larger lakes include Lake Burera, Lake Ruhondo, Lake Muhazi, Lake Rweru and Lake Ihema, of which Lake Aishma is the largest in a series of lakes in the eastern plains of Akagera National Park. [2]

Topography

There are many mountains in Rwanda, which is called "the country of a thousand hills". The whole country is at a high altitude: the lowest point, the Luzizi River, is also 950 meters above sea level. The Midwest is dominated by mountains, which are part of the Aberdeen Rift Valley, which is part of the East African Rift Valley, extending from north to south along the western border of Rwanda. The highest mountain in the country is located in the volcanic chain of the Virunga Mountains in the northwest, of which Calisin is 4507 meters higher than the volcano, which is the highest geographical point in Rwanda. The mountain area in the western part of the country, located in the Aberdeen Rift Mountain Forest Ecological region, is between 1500 and 2500 meters above sea level. The central part of Rwanda is dominated by rolling hills, while the eastern border is made up of savannas, plains and swamps.

Rwanda's economy is dominated by agriculture. The population engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry accounts for 92% of the country's population. The main cash crops are coffee, tea and cotton. Because it is an agricultural and animal husbandry country, coupled with the loss of many young workers caused by the genocide in 1994, it is a huge blow to a country that is not already rich, and Rwanda is still a backward country. After the civil war, Rwanda has intensified its development in the cultivation and trade of coffee. In recent years, the Rwandan government has also taken positive measures to set up coffee production cooperatives in various places to give technical guidance and financial support to farmers. It is expected that the domestic economic development can be promoted to a certain extent through the coffee industry. Because of the excellent performance of Rwandan coffee in recent years, it is becoming more and more popular in the international market.

Rwanda has been growing coffee since colonial times. Although the crops are mainly coffee, the quality of coffee produced in Rwanda is not outstanding, and its status in the coffee world is low, and few people pay attention to it. Most of the coffee varieties grown in Rwanda are bourbon. Rwanda, known as the "country of a thousand hills", has a high-altitude mountain environment, fertile volcanic soil and abundant precipitation, and has a climate conducive to the growth of coffee trees. The advantages of varieties and excellent natural conditions should have produced high-quality coffee, but why the quality of its coffee performance is not satisfactory? The reason lies in the later stage of processing. Improper handling will reduce the quality of coffee and sacrifice a lot of good flavor in vain. Harvesting, planting, treatment, grading, transportation and other links will directly affect the quality of raw coffee beans, in which the lack of control in a certain link will become a stumbling block to good coffee.

The coffee fruit needs to be transported to the processing plant as soon as possible after picking, but due to the lack of domestic facilities, it is unable to deal with the fruit at the first time. The fruits are piled up after being picked, which will continue to develop and accelerate mildew and decay due to lack of ventilation. Rotten fruits will affect the quality of coffee and show defective flavor.

In recent years, Rwanda has made great progress in the production and processing of coffee. First of all, coffee fruits are picked manually; coffee production cooperatives are set up all over the country to provide technical guidance to coffee farmers; coffee farmers send them to coffee processing stations for cleaning and screening as soon as possible after picking, and select mature and high-quality coffee fruits for processing.

Most of the coffee in Rwanda is washed. The water washing method will first wash and flotation the ripe coffee fruit, then remove the exocarp, pulp and part of the pectin layer, then send the coffee into the fermentation tank, remove the remaining pectin layer and then send it to the drying ground for drying treatment, so that the water content reaches about 13%. The coffee in the picture above is dried on an African shed to avoid the smell of dirt. It is more ventilated and mildew can be avoided. In the process of drying, coffee farmers will also turn the beans regularly to make the drying more even. at the same time, they will pick out the beans of poor quality and discard them.