This time of year, Rwandan coffees begin arriving in ports and cupping tables all over the world, and while our team tried offerings from a number of different processes and regions of Rwanda, we found ourselves returning to coffees from the Huye region before landing on this washed lot from the Simbi Cooperative. The story behind this cooperative is inspiring, and indeed, when we learned more about their work, it became apparent as to why this fully washed coffee stood out to us. Founded in 2011, the Simbi Cooperative represents the efforts of over 1,850 members, eighty percent of whom are women; a remarkably high percentage in an industry that is otherwise composed mostly of men in roles of leadership. In 2013, Simbi’s washing station was first established, later that same year they were awarded ninth place in the Rwandan cup of Excellence, which is no small feat for any co-op or producer. This particular coffee was harvested in late 2023 from a group of 300 smallholdings, all located at elevations ranging between 1710-1850 masl, which makes this lot a strictly high grown coffee. What’s more is that this coffee is a single cultivar of Red Bourbon. Bourbon and its multicolored subspecies are some of the most common and widespread arabica coffees to be grown across the world, and as such, some of the most susceptible to the effects of global climate change and coffee rust, a fungal disease that hampers the coffee tree’s ability to produce at its full potential. However, the climate, elevation, terrain and volcanic soil of southern Rwanda’s mountainous Huye district is perfectly suited to cultivate Bourbon coffee. Indeed, coffees from this region continue to flourish year over year and as such have proliferated to become well known for their sensory attributes. The washed coffees of Rwanda are remarkably clean and distinct, even in the midst of the multitude of excellent coffees to be found in East Africa.This offering has a dynamic yet delicate acidity that lends itself to a fruit forward flavor profile than one may not expect from a washed coffee.