TASTING NOTES

Coffee tasting notes for Kanzu, Rwanda: prune, cherry, dark chocolate, black tea, strawberry, peach

COFFEE BACKGROUND

The Blueprint Coffee Boutique Series is a selection of offerings highlighting noteworthy partners around the globe. The Boutique Series features special varieties, unique processing methods, prestigious origin farms, and partnerships creating impacts on sustainability. It’s a one-of-a-kind flavor experience our team has selected to showcase what we love most about coffee.

The Kanzu washing station is nestled against the Nyungwe national forest, which sits above Lake Kivu, near the western border of Rwanda. The area’s unique microclimate benefits coffee quality: moisture from the lake collects in the mountainside forest, creating a misty cloud cover. This protects coffee as it grows and slows the maturation of cherries. Slower growth allows more complex acids and sugars to develop in the coffee — which present as complex flavors in the cup.

Station workers meticulously sort coffee cherries to ensure lots from Kanzu are of the highest quality. They soak cherries in water and remove any that rise to the top, a sign of insect bites. This careful sorting significantly reduces the incidence of potato defect — a harmless but very unwelcome defect that causes coffee to smell overwhelmingly like raw potatoes, and (frustratingly) is impossible to detect before the coffee is roasted and ground.

The relationship between the Kanzu station and its farming community is mutually beneficial. Producers employ excellent agricultural practices and bring high quality cherries to the station. Kanzu works with more than 535 farmers who often return to sell there each year, developing consistent relationships. In turn, Kanzu’s leaders go above and beyond the infrastructural and technical support typical of washing stations. They pay a premium for coffee cherries, exceeding typical prices even when they are at record highs.

Kanzu also experiments and invests in infrastructure. They recently built covered drying beds to try alongside their full-sun beds. This spirit of innovation, along with consistently excellent quality, makes Kanzu station a wonderful producer partner year after year.

Coffees from Rwanda are susceptible to potato defect. You can learn more about potato defect, our return policy, and our commitment to coffees from Rwanda on our blog.