Arrival date：December 2013 Arrival
Appearance：.2 d/300gr, 15 + Screen
Grade：A1
Processing：Wet Process (Washed)
Region：Kirambo, Karongi District
Varietal(s)：Bourbon
Intensity/Prime attribute：Medium intensity / A very refined, if somewhat restrained cup, floral and sweet
Roast：City+ roast is ideal, but this coffee holds up very well from City - Full City+. Better to stay out of 2nd crack territory.
New Crop Rwandas are finally in, and we're starting it off (or rather, ending 2013) with this lot from Gitesi, which happens to be one of my favorite sites in Rwanda. Not only is it located in a beautiful valley, but the washing station looked clean, well-organized, and the leaders seemed motivated and competent. I had already cupped quite a few day lots (wet-process batches from coffee cherry received in a single day), and I knew the coffee was really good. The Gitesi site is at 1740 meters, actually one of the lower areas surrounded by high ridges ranging up to 2000 meters, where coffee is grown. 1,830 coffee farmers in the area supply Gitesi with cherries each year. The station fosters a relationship with the farmers by paying an additional dividend at the end of each season based on performance. Gitesi was started in 2005 and has been building capacity each year. Like much of Rwanda, the coffee is Bourbon variety. We "built" this lot by looking at all their day lot batches and combining the best ones. Early lots from Gitesi were not cupping consistently good, so we excluded those. But we found some excellent process batches from the middle harvest. And we're not the only ones noticing: Gitesi won COE a couple years back and continues to produce competition level coffees.
Gitesi continues to produce some of the best coffee we see from the region, and this year's lots are of significant quality. Right from the get-go, Gitesi has such an attractive set of aromatics - cardamom, caramel butter, turbinado sugar, and a floral-like Darjeeling tea note, are all representative in the dry grounds. Aspects of complex sugar browning come into full view when you add the hot water. The wet grounds have a rich sweetness at light roast levels. Brown sugar and butter hang heavy in the air and with a slight floral note underneath. There's a tartness to the cup that in light roasts especially takes on flavors of rose hips and mandarin orange. There's a refined sweetness as well, like raw cane sugar. Buttery flavors shift toward lactic/cream as the cup cools and with hints of vanilla, tastes of cream soda. Dark roasts are very sweet too and have cinnamon bark punch too with a pleasant woodiness. Gitesi changes quite a bit from light to dark roasts, and the sweetness is potent all the way to the outer edge of Full City (but for the most complex cup, don't stray far from City+/Full City). The finish is honeyed, and holds on long into the aftertaste. Gitesi brews so well, and will also make for a great SO espresso showing depth in sweetness.