Coffee origin

🇷🇼 Rwandan coffee: floral, sweet and red Bourbon

Updated 6 November 2026

Rwanda is a small, high country: its lowest point is 950 metres. About 97% of its coffee is arabica, mainly Bourbon.

How it tastes

According to Melbourne Coffee Merchants, Rwandan coffees are generally floral and sweet, with dried fruit, stewed fruit and chocolate. Northern lots tend to be brighter with tropical fruit; southern lots jammy and syrupy, with raisin and brown sugar.

Where it comes from

Germans introduced coffee in the early 1900s. From 2001 to 2006, USAID invested 10 million dollars in washing stations and training. The first private washing station opened in 2001, and more than 200 have followed. Most lots are washed, some natural.

Honest note: coffees from Africa's Great Lakes region can show the "potato taste defect", a smell of raw potato in an occasional bean. Research from Michigan State University links it to the antestia bug and found that controlling the bug reduces the defect. Importers report that cases have become very low in recent years.

How to enjoy it

Lovely as filter coffee, where the florals and sweetness come through. A good choice for a lighter, sweet espresso too.

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