ESPRESSO Roast - Gishamwana Island Anaerobic Natural - Rwanda Lake Kivu

An anaerobic natural grown on an island in Lake Kivu, roasted for espresso. Cooked orange, jammy nectarine and pecan in a sweet, heavy shot.

Built for espresso at home or in the cafe, on anything from a stovetop to a proper machine.

In the cup you get cooked orange and caramel with mellow nectarine and pecan. Mild balanced acidity, deep sweetness and a heavier body than we usually get out of Africa.

It pours well as a long black or piccolo where the cooked fruit shows best, and there is enough body and sweetness to carry a flat white without getting lost.

It is a new crop microlot, separated out from the washing station day lots on cup score. Once it is gone it is gone.

Anaerobic means the cherries were sealed in tanks without oxygen for a stretch before drying. Fermenting that way lifts the intensity of the fruit and adds body, and it is why this tastes like cooked fruit rather than fresh fruit. After the ferment the whole cherries dry on raised beds and get turned regularly, which is the natural part.

The lot is called Kaguriro and it comes off Gishamwana Island, a short boat ride from the shoreline of Lake Kivu in Rwanda's Western Province. There are more than 35,000 coffee trees on the island and the coffee is grown, processed and dried there. It is grown organically under far heavier shade than most African coffee, and sitting off the mainland means the island gets far less pest and disease pressure than the farms on the shore. The island belongs to Emmanuel Rwakagara, who founded COOPAC, a Fair Trade certified cooperative on the volcanic slopes above the lake. COOPAC started with 110 farmers in 2001 and now has around 8,000 members across six washing stations, and it puts money back into schools, clinics, roads and bridges in the community. The variety is Bourbon, grown between 1,500 and 1,650 metres, harvested March to June.

Best suited for: espresso, milk based coffees, long blacks, stovetop, Aeropress.

Brew guide to start with: ratio 1:2, 20g in and 40g out in 26 to 30 seconds at 93C.

Roast level: light to medium espresso roast.

Roasted to order at our roastery in Ballarat. Local Ballarat delivery on Thursdays for orders placed before midnight Tuesday. Shipped daily Australia wide.