Rwanda Mahembe

We try not to keep coffee on the shelves for long, so if we don't have a particular coffee in stock, we have to replenish the order after the roasting day. We roast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, pack the coffee and send it out on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Sometimes we receive samples of anaerobically fermented coffees that are marred by an overpowering acidity which masks everything else. That is not the case here. Here we have a beautifully balanced coffee, in which the fermentation notes take the form of a fine whisky, perfectly enveloping the blackberries and blueberries at the forefront.

Mahembe is a company owned by Justin Musabyimana. It comprises three farms and two washing stations. Justin Musabyimana uses his own coffee cherries, but also buys them from farmers neighbouring his farms. The coffee you are drinking comes from the 13-hectare Murundo farm and its surrounding areas, which are situated in the immediate vicinity of Nyungwe National Park. The coffee cherries were processed at the Nyarubuye washing station.

Nyungwe Forest is located in south-western Rwanda. It neighbours Burundi to the south and Lake Kivu and DR Congo to the west. Nyungwe is considered the best-preserved montane rainforest in Africa. It is located on the watershed between the Congo and Nile river basins.