Rwanda Coffee Flavor description processing method introduction to Fine Coffee

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 in the mountainous territory of Rwanda near the center of the country, known as 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 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. During the drying process, coffee farmers will also turn the beans regularly to make the drying more even. at the same time, they will pick out beans of poor quality and discard them.