Cyimbil Harrar | Rutsiro | Rwanda

Juicy cherry acidity and nutty sweetness yield to a slightly drying, tea-like finish in this Rwandan cup.

At Cyimbili, coffee begins at the shore of Lake Kivu and runs to the top of the highest hill covering an expansive farm across several blocks. This selection is from one block that is mostly planted to the rare Rwanda variety “Harrar”. Mostly Bourbon and Jackson Bourbon are planted in Rwanda and not much is known about the Harrar variety in Rwanda as it is rarely if ever separated by washing stations collecting daily from all the various small holders. Both traditional fermentation as well as mechanically washed lots are included in this selection in which the character of Cyimbili translates through the Harrar in citrus and stone fruit flavors balanced by black tea tannin all wrapped in a silkier texture with a long and spaced cup structure.

Our journey with Cyimbili began with the founder of an inspiring non-profit that stewards the Cyimbili land and Rwanda culture. Celestin Musekura grew up among the Cyimbili coffee trees that became abandoned in the aftermath of the tragic Rwanda Genocide of 1994. He founded the African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry with a dream to restore the coffee of Cyimbili as a living witness to the restoration of hope. ALARM renewed the farm in 2009 eventually making great progress under the leadership of manager Jean Nepo and agronomist Eliane. But they still needed a relational dynamic toward quality and market connection. The Bonaventure community has been laboring and collaborating with Cyimbili since 2014 to make that dream a reality pointing us to a brighter future of reconciliation and new creation.

This coffee went through a 24-hour fermentation and washing alongside mechanical washing and an extended soak in-tank. After channel grading, parchment is dried on raised beds under a combination of shade and full sun.