Rwanda and Central Africa: sweet and delicious coffee

Perhaps a more accurate geographical description of the origin of coffee we focus on this month may be coffee from the Great Lakes of Africa rather than coffee from Central Africa. In the growing region, almost all 30 cups of coffee we hold this month around or near the geographically huge lakes that dominate the eastern mountains of central Africa, near the equator and east of the geographical center of the continent. Particularly important in this coffee geography is Lake Kivu, coffee for Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, which may affect Burundian coffee. Farther south, Lake Niassa pokes up close to the growth of the Mbeya region of Tanzania.

Can you generally say that the coffee in these lake areas? They are all high-growth but usually not very high-growing (because of their mild and vibrant acidity accounting); they are almost universal from the perfect local variants of Arabica's great heirloom bourbon varieties (their complex and charming aroma and flavor accounting); their minority shareholders produce (projects that make them attractive, seek to improve the lives of small farmers by encouraging professional coffee production) And the best treatment, usually using classical fermentation and washing methods, often recently established "cleaning stations" or wet Mills, making them relatively clean and consistent. In all cases, transporting these premium coffees inland is difficult and often causes quality problems, but we use 30 samples, only four show bagginess or decline due to storage or transport of mild advice to the importer.

The notorious defect of potatoes

The Great Lakes region of Africa even stocks their own special cup stains, shocking "potato defects," especially those growing up near Lake Kivu, Rwandan coffee. The defect is apparently introduced by bacteria in the peel of coffee, usually by a coffee tiger longicorn beetle. Bacteria cause compounds in producing an unforgettable taste of raw beans-imagine an old bean developing, sprouting potatoes pulling out compost and cutting. Beans carrying this stain obviously can only pass the visual inspection when the coffee is still in wet parchment, fresh from the laundry, and poisonous beans must be removed from the dry watch, one by one. However, of the thirty cups of coffee we used, we encountered only one sample that produced a clear potato poison cup, tribute, in this case, skilled hands and eyes on the workers.

It feels good.

Because we only come across some moderate sensory negatives, what must be the dominant feeling of coffee in the Great Lakes region of Africa? Usually, the sweet taste, moderate acidity but always rich, change into a unique aroma and flavor. Usually these best coffee are sweet honeyish with a tasty edge merged. With classic citrus and berry and floral aromas, they tend to show a series of delicious tips: grass, spices, nuts, tequila, and even grumpy. Some industry insiders believe that although the tasty hints of coffee indicate slight, occasional pollution caused by dry and wet, often lake-affected conditions, it seems possible to me, or that they represent the local bourbon characteristics of plant materials, as delicious hints are often a part of the classic related sl28 cup bourbon Kenya.

Rwanda dominates

Rwanda led us to cupping in the number of contributions (20) as well as high-scoring samples: six Rwanda samples exceeded rating 93. All the comments. Three of these 693 rated Rwanda are apparently imported from the same green coffee, and a karongi gitesi is imported by the same small but refined green coffee dealer. It's always a little uneasy when a lot of the same green coffee produces multiple samples that attract high ratings in the same can, but remember that our cup of these samples in random order can only be determined by numbers, and postpone any effort to study green coffee or analyze roast color until we determine our rating and sensory descriptor.