Rwanda Nyamasheke Kamina
Coffee from the Kamina washing station has won numerous Cup of Excellence awards and this coffee is a great example of their work. It's bright, sweet, exceptionally balanced and refreshing. Look for notes of pear, honeydew, lime and a touch of jasmine.
We've been increasingly impressed with how quickly Rwandan coffee has leapt onto the specialty coffee scene. The dramatic jump in quality has raised the bar across all African coffees and is even giving the best Ethiopian coffees a run for their money! Don't forget the regional name Nyamasheke because it keeps popping up again and again and it's making a run at being the "Yirgacheffe" of Rwanda. We'll be watching the region closely as the coffees from there continue to be impressive! This offering from the award winning Kamina washing station is a prime example. It's an herbaceous fragrance and aroma with a floral background. The cup has bright, crisp acidity with a medium to full body (depending on your roast) and a refreshing finish. The flavors are exceptionally well balanced and sweet with notes of pear, honeydew, lime and a hint of jasmine.
Reminder! This coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing
Arrival Date: April 22nd, 2022
Acidity & Brightness: Bright, fairly sweet
Balance & Finish: Exceptional balance with a refreshing finish
Body & Texture: Mid to Full body with a silky texture
Flavors: Pear, honeydew, lime and a touch of jasmine
Grade: A, grown at 1800 masl
Processing: Fully Washed, dried on raised beds
Grower: Smallholder farmers organized around the Kamina Coffee Washing Station
Region: Nyamasheke District, Western Province
Varieties: Local Bourbon varieties
Recommended Roast Range: City to Full City (Light to medium)
We like this coffee in the City to Full City range (mid first crack to just before 2nd crack). If you want to squeeze out more body, go right up to just before 2nd crack. For more acidity and fruit, pull your roast during 1st crack.
Royal Coffee - "The Nyamasheke district in Rwanda is gifted in terroir. Lake Kivu nearby is part of the East African Rift whose consistent drift creates volcanic seepage from the lake’s bottom and enriches the surrounding soils. Coffees from this region are often jammier and heavier than in the rest of the country. Kamina Coffee Washing Station is in central Nyamasheke at 1800 meters, about as high as processing occurs anywhere in Rwanda. Coffee is hand-picked by local farmers and brought to the station daily for inspection. Once accepted, depulped, and sorted, Kamina’s processing team dry-ferments the coffee, and then washes it thoroughly in a long sorting channel flushed with running water, which doubles as a final density sorting technique. Kamina’s coffee has won numerous awards in Rwanda’s Cup of Excellence competition; with its natural endowments, experience, rigorous processing standards, and exuberantly sweet coffee, this is really no surprise. Kamina is one of Rwanda’s oldest washing stations, originally founded in 2003. 2 decades may seem like nothing compared to other regions, but centralized infrastructure for fully washing coffees is that new to Rwanda."
