Coffee

Rwanda Washed & Anaerobic Bundle

Rwanda Washed & Anaerobic Bundle

£22.00

Rwanda Washed & Anaerobic Bundle

£22.00
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Are you Team Washed or Team Anaerobic? Why not try both and decide for yourself?
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Description

Have you ever spotted the processing notes on our labels, and wondered what the different terms refer to? We wrote a blog post about washed versus natural processing a couple of years back, and more recently we wrote about anaerobic fermentation.

But what does this actually mean when you taste the coffee? Well, to show you just how profoundly the processing method of a coffee can affect its flavour, we've bundled together a couple of our latest drops from Rwanda. Here, we have coffees of the same varietal, grown in the same region, and at the same altitude, but one has been washed and the other has been anaerobically fermented. Both are excellent, but they are wildly different from one another.

Why not give them a try and let us know whether you're Team Washed or Team Anaerobic?!

Choose 250g or 1 kilo and your order will contain 1 bag of each Rwandan coffee (total of 2 bags).

Rwanda Musozi

Farm:

Nyamasheke Washing Station

Processing:

Washed

Owner:

Rwamatamu Coffee

Region:

Western Province

Varietal(s):

Red Bourbon

Altitude:

1,800 to 2,000 metres above sea level

Town:

Nyamasheke

Rwamatamu Coffee is a Rwandan coffee producer established in 2015. Located in the Nyamasheke District of Rwanda’s Western Province, Rwamatamu is known for its commitment to quality coffee production, sustainable practices, and its strong community impact. Operating in one of Rwanda’s prime coffee-growing regions, Rwamatamu collaborates with local cooperatives, prioritising the economic and social wellbeing of the farmers they work with. Rwamatamu Coffee’s primary operations are located at high elevations in Rwanda’s tropical highland climate, where the combination of volcanic soil, altitudes of 1,600–2,000 metres, and moderate temperatures provide ideal conditions for growing arabica coffee. When the cherries arrive at Rwamatamu’s Nyamasheke washing station, they are sorted to remove defects and under- or over-ripe cherries. Next, cherries are run through a pulping machine and the pulped coffee is left in tanks to ferment for 8 to 12 hours. After fermentation, coffee is washed through before being transferred to raised drying beds. Here, workers will sort through the beans, further removing defects and turning the coffee over the course of 17 to 25 days.

Rwanda Mbare

Farm:

Mbare Washing Station

Processing:

Anaerobic

Owner:

Rwamatamu Coffee

Region:

Western Province

Varietal(s):

Red Bourbon

Altitude:

1,800 to 2,000 metres above sea level

Town:

Mbare

Rwamatamu Coffee is a Rwandan coffee producer established in 2015. Located in the Nyamasheke District of Rwanda’s Western Province, Rwamatamu is known for its commitment to quality coffee production, sustainable practices, and its strong community impact. Operating in one of Rwanda’s prime coffee-growing regions, Rwamatamu collaborates with local cooperatives, prioritising the economic and social wellbeing of the farmers they work with. Rwamatamu Coffee’s primary operations are located at high elevations in Rwanda’s tropical highland climate, where the combination of volcanic soil, altitudes of 1,600–2,000 metres, and moderate temperatures provide ideal conditions for growing arabica coffee. In 2023, Rwamatamu expanded to a new coffee washing station in Mbare. Unlike Nyamasheke, where coffee farming is well-established, Mbare’s community has historically focused on other crops, and coffee is often treated as secondary. Rwamatamu is working to shift this perspective by engaging local farmers and establishing quality-focused practices to improve coffee production and increase profitability for the farmers involved. When the cherries arrive at Rwamatamu’s Mbare washing station, they are sorted to remove defects and under- or over-ripe cherries. Next, they are fermented by themselves in air-tight containers deprived of oxygen and are left for up to 96 hours dependent on the weather. After fermentation, the coffee is transferred to raised drying beds, and dried outside over the course of 20 to 28 days.
About Rwanda
The majority of coffee in Rwanda is grown by small-scale farmers, typically organised into cooperatives that share the services of centralised wet-mills. Almost all of Rwanda’s coffee is one of several long-established Bourbon varieties. This is closely guarded by the country’s government and gives Rwandan coffees a unique bright fruitiness and acidity.

Following the genocide, coffee production was one of the key drivers of economic growth. Rwanda is now one of the ‘go to’ origins for specialty coffee today.

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