A balanced, bright coffee, with an interesting mix of heft, in terms of a juicy mouthfeel, and delicate tea notes of English Breakfast and Sencha. Transparent sweetness, subtle pear hint, and caramel popcorn note in the aftertaste.
Tucked away in the Nyamasheke region of Rwanda’s Western Province is the Kanyege washing station site. At 1870 meters above sea level, Kanyege rests in the hills just above the Kanzu site, and the coffee they are processing comes from farms as high as 2000 meters.
Farmers in this region are growing older Bourbon cultivars, and while Kanyege produces mostly wet process, this 8 bag lot is anaerobic fermentation. Anaerobic fermentation has become increasingly popular processing method and involves fermenting the coffee in an environment sealed off from air – often barrels, or a sealed tank of some sort. The coffee is depulped like usual and then sealed into the tanks for a few days before washing. This no doubt can have an affect of flavor, though in this case, I think the differences between this lot and their standard washed coffee are more subtle. The workers at the Kanyege site are floating coffee cherry before laying to dry, in order to identify and remove the underripe coffee that floats to the top (often called “floaters”). They are also sifting through the drying coffee by hand in order to remove other physical defects. I did find a few partial quakers in the coffee I roasted.
The fragrance shows apple-like fruited hints amidst chocolatey smells, with balanced interplay of sweet and roasty notes, and subtle complexity within. The flavor profile is more of a balanced, bright coffee, rather than overt fruit that I expected based off my experience tasting other anaerobic fermented lots. For me, this is a net positive, as often times the longer fermentation times bring with it sour vinegar flavors. Not Kanyege. The cup characteristics unfold to an interesting mix of heft, in terms of a juicy mouthfeel, and delicate tea notes. Light roasts produce a moderate level of acidity, tannic and tea-like, tethering a somewhat transparent sweetness with top notes of English Breakfast black tea, and aromatic accents of Sencha. There’s a subtle pear hint at City roast level, and a caramel popcorn note in the aftertaste.
- Origin: Rwanda
- Region: Nyamasheke, Western Province
- Producer: Kanyege washing station
- Altitude: 1870m
- Cultivar: Bourbon
- Grade: A1
- Processing: Anaerobic Fermentation
- Drying: Raised Bed Sun-Dried
- Arrival: Feb 2021
- Sourcing: Sweet Maria’s