Coffee production in Rwanda

Choose Rwanda for a sweet, balanced cup with lively but not overbearing acidity and a satiny feel. Typical notes are quiet florals that can read as honey, stone fruit, ripe citrus and cocoa, sometimes with a tart red or black currant edge. Much of the crop comes from old trees related to the Bourbon variety, and some of the best lots come from washing stations along Lake Kivu. One thing worth knowing: Rwandan coffee can carry the potato defect, a raw, sprouted-potato taste caused by bacteria in the cherry. It is largely contained within individual beans, so it is a quirk to recognize rather than a reason to skip the origin.