Rwanda Sholi, Bourbon, Natural

Rwandan coffee is one of the clearest examples anywhere in the world of how specialty coffee can generate meaningful social and economic transformation when quality, collaboration, and long-term thinking are prioritised together.

Following the collapse of the country's colonial-era commodity coffee systems and the devastation surrounding the 1994 Genocide, Rwanda consciously rebuilt its coffee sector around smallholder quality production. Coffee became not only an export industry, but a mechanism for rebuilding rural livelihoods, encouraging co-operation, and creating sustainable economic opportunity through shared infrastructure and producer-led organisation.

Today, Rwanda's coffee industry remains overwhelmingly smallholder based, with approximately 400,000 farming families cultivating tiny plots across the country's mountainous terrain.

This coffee comes from members of the Kundwa Women Coffee group operating within the Aba Sholi co-operative in Muhanga District. Founded in 2008 by 30 women seeking to create stronger local economic opportunities, the co-operative has steadily grown into one of Rwanda's most admired quality-focused producer groups. Today, over 600 producers contribute cherries to Sholi, with the co-operative investing profits back into healthcare, infrastructure, education, food security, and long-term community resilience.The values of “mutual assistance” embedded within the co-operative’s name remain visible throughout its work.

Whilst washed coffees have historically defined Rwanda's reputation, processing some of the top selections naturally represents an exciting evolution within the country's specialty sector increasing the diversity of flavour and value created for the smallholders.

The Bourbon variety’s density and sweetness, combined with Rwanda’s high elevations, cool evenings, and slow cherry maturation,  provide exceptional raw material for natural processing. Here, rather than removing the fruit immediately after harvest, the coffee cherry remains intact throughout drying, allowing sugars, acids, and fruit compounds from the skin and mucilage to influence flavour development over time.

This lot is naturally processed via traditional sun-drying on raised beds. Cherries are harvested and sorted by hand before being floated to remove underdeveloped fruit and isolate only the highest quality cherries for drying. They're then dried slowly under cover on the beds for around 40 days depending on ambient conditions, carefully turned and monitored throughout to ensure even drying and stability.

Natural processing tends to create a broader, heavier cup profile than washed coffees, often amplifying fruit character and sweetness whilst softening acidity. In this coffee, that process transforms the clarity of Rwandan Bourbon into something more layered and complex, whilst still retaining the balance and elegance that make coffees from Sholi so compelling.

Tasting the washed and natural lots side-by-side offers a rare opportunity to experience just how dramatically processing can shape perception, texture, and flavour from the exact same terroir.

I first visited Rwanda in 2019 during AFCA in Kigali, spending time with producers, exporters, and coffee professionals from across East Africa whilst running workshops alongside champions from across the continent.

What struck me most was the sense of optimism surrounding coffee in Rwanda. There is an extraordinary openness to learning and experimentation alongside a deep understanding of coffee’s ability to support long-term social and economic rebuilding.

That spirit feels especially present in coffees like this. Producing exceptional washed coffees already requires immense precision and infrastructure, but natural processing introduces another layer of complexity and risk. Seeing producer groups like Kundwa, in partnership with Sholi, confidently exploring these methods whilst maintaining such remarkable quality feels symbolic of how far Rwanda’s coffee sector has come in a relatively short time.

I’m incredibly grateful to Maxime, Phil, Howard and the wider Covoya team for helping build and maintain the relationships that allow coffees like this to both exist and travel across the world.