Vunga cooperative is a washing station (coffee mill) in Jomba, Nyabihu, Western Rwanda. The Vunga station is at 1463 meters, with coffee coming from the surrounding hills ranging from 1700 to 2100 meters. The area borders the Virunga national forest, which has a healthy mountain gorilla population, and is just a couple hours from the borders of Uganda and DRC (Congo). Vunga was a real standout on the cupping table, even though it was not the most extreme coffee. The acidity is softer and milder than other lots we selected. The cup has nice mouthfeel and a degree of balance between brightness, body, and cleanly fruited cup flavors.

Honey and toasted granola are the main scents from the Vunga dry fragrance, as well as praline almond. The wet aromatics are really interesting, sweet and pungent as well, with a dynamic orange zest, cinnamon and allspice. The cup is very bright at City roast level, and much more balanced as you approach Full City. There's a spiced apple note in the cup, warming/mulling spice notes, with a zest of mandarin citrus as well. With Full City roast, a silky chocolate flavor emerges, as well as a perceived increase in body. Full City also makes for a pretty amazing SO Espresso. I did have the dreaded potato defect, specific to Rwanda and Burundi coffees, crop up a couple times when evaluating this coffee. But it seems rare. You will know if you get that one bad bean when you brew it, especially if it ends up in an espresso shot.

Karengera is a coffee washing station in southwestern Rwanda. A washing station is what they call a coffee processing mill in East Africa. The town and mill of Karengera is in the Nyamasheke district that lies near Lake Kivu, and the borders of Burundi and Congo. There have been many top lots from the washing stations in this area, and Karengera was a favorite when I made visits to Rwanda to cup this harvest.

Floral, honey-like aromatics permeate the flavor profile of Karengera. The dry fragrance has sweet butter and honey with honeysuckle flowers. Adding hot water, the same sweetness persists with hibiscus as the dominant floral note. Full City roast features more cocoa-like aromatics, with brown sugar and caramel cookie in the wet aroma. The cup taste is in line with the aromatics. In light roasts, the brightness and flavor lean towards hibiscus with a tart but sweet flavor. Darker roasts have a more developed caramelized sugar character. Brown sugar and sweet cacao bring the sweetness together before finishing buttery and macadamia-like. We really like the mouthfeel at FC roast, creamy and opaque. It's a coffee that works with either a lighter or darker roast interpretation.

Kinyaga is a cooperative coffee washing station located in the Nkanka area of Rusizi, Western Rwanda. The area is defined by it's proximity to Lake Kivu, the Rusizi river and the local capital of Cyangugu. Kinyaga cooperative is at 1500 meters, drawing from member farmers in the area up to 1900 meters. Kinyaga cooperative receives support from a Kigali-based group who not only provides advice on technical agronomy, but also offers business support to the coop. The later has been absent from many well-intentioned efforts to support cooperative coffee farmers, and can lead to unbearable debt when a coop leaders do not have good business and accounting training. It's not as interesting as discussing cultivars, altitudes and micro-climates, but most coops fail for lack of management, not lack of coffee quality. With this lot, the farmer received 64% of the price we paid, which, when you consider all the expenses to the cooperative to process the coffee, the dry-milling, transport, and export costs, is a higher stake than we have seen in many places. To me, that's sustainable agriculture in a broader sense of the term.

The dry fragrance demonstrate hints of warm, baking spices, fresh cream and berry. Lighter roasts have apple and tangerine. More mulling spice and toasted hazelnut in the wet aromatics set the tone for a very well balanced cup. Dry hops and peach flavors remind us of brown ale. The finish is sweet, like brown sugar, clean and snappy. This is a restrained cup, no big fruit bomb coffee here. Kinyaga is a straight-forward coffee, not incredibly complex, but a quaffable, crowd-pleasing cofffee.