
RWANDA - Gitesi (Washed)
Friedhats (Amsterdam)
Rwanda - Gitesi 250g
Note: Bright, juicy, fig jam, peach and oolong tea
Variety: Red Bourbon
Process: Washed
Producer: 583 Smallholders
Region: Karongi District
Altitude: 1750-1800masl
Ever had potato in your coffee? If you had, you would remember, but for those who haven’t: You didn’t drink enough coffee from Rwanda. No problem, just keep going, you’ll get lucky at some point, or not, if you’re lucky. But remember, you’re not a real barista until you’ve tasted the potato, a defect caused by an insect called the Antestia bug. It’s called potato defect because it literally makes the coffee taste and smell like a freshly peeled potato.
One bean can be enough to ruin your whole cup. Luckily we don’t taste as many potatoes in our Rwandans as we used to. Most likely due to improved farming and processing techniques.
The Gitesi washing station is a good example, located in the Gitesi sector of Rwanda’s western province, owned and run by father and son: Alexis and Aime.
It’s a well run washing station with strict protocols for cherry and bean sorting which is important to minimize the risk of potato and other defects.
They get cherries delivered from over 1800 farmers in the area. After receiving they get placed in a tank full of water to remove the floating (low quality) cherries. Afterwards pulp and 70% of the mucilage is removed and the beans are dry fermented for around 12 hours. They then move them through channels with water to wash them and to remove the floating beans of low quality. After that the beans are soaked for 16 hours and put onto drying beds for more sorting while still wet.
The beans are dried in parchment for around 15 days on raised beds and sorted once more.
These processing steps are crucial to bring out the potential of Rwandan coffee and, of course, to have less potatoes.
Ok cool, but what does it taste like?
We always find Rwandan coffee to have a similar cup profile to Kenyan coffee, but that could also be the other way around, who knows. But Rwanda (in our opinion) usually has a bit less acidity, a bit more sweetness and can be a bit more creamy. Maybe why usually our Rwandan coffees are more popular for espresso. This Gitesi is bright, juicy with notes of fig ja, peach and oolong tea.