Rwanda Kinini Village Natural

Kinini Village is a fair trade organic co-op with 48 members in the northern part of Rwanda up by Lake Kivu bordering Congo. They have their own milling/washing station and can control their quality.

These natural-processed beans roast like a natural Ethiopia. There is a sparkling lime taste, with some lemongrass and orange marmalade, maybe a little black tea. And even though it is a sundried coffee, it has a full bodied mouthfeel and isn't thin or watery. The importer (Crop to Cup) suggested notes of boysenberry, chocolate, pear, pluot, violet, and buttered rum, and while we didn't really find those notes in our roasts, I'm throwing it out there in case you do.

Only a tiny portion of Rwanda coffee is sundried natural, so this isn't a coffee you get to practice on very often. It's much easier to roast than expected, but you definitely want to keep it on the light end of the spectrum. The lightest roasts -- just barely out of the 1st cracks -- had a lot of acidity and complexity and a bit of tartness, but not in a bad way. Our darkest roasts -- 20 seconds later -- tasted almost exactly the same, but with slightly less acidity and a little bit sweeter. 

US Arrival February 2023