Rwanda Nyamasheke Kanzu

If you are a fan of Kenyan coffee be sure to give this Kanzu lot a try! It shines with bold and bright flavors, rich depth, delicious sweetness, and is impressively clean! One of our current favorites in house.

From Red Fox Coffee Merchants (importer)- “Kanzu’s coffee comes from the Nyamasheke growing region in South Central Lake Kivu. It’s high up in the mountains around 2000 meters above sea level and features green, lushly-forested mountainsides.

We have chosen to increase our presence in Nyamasheke district over surrounding areas because of the sheer quality of coffee in that subregion. Bordering Congo on the west, it offers a range of altitudes all the way up to 2200 masl and beyond. It’s also home to the biodiverse Nyungwe forest, where rainfall ranges from 1300 to 1400 millimeters per year. The soil is volcanic and rich. All of those factors combine to bring us unparalleled quality, which (among other things) pushed us to double down on Kanzu over the years. 

The Nyungwe National Forest protects Kanzu’s biodiversity and prevents deforestation. The forest collects cloud cover, generating a special misty microclimate that slows cherry maturation and protects the coffee from climate extremes. It’s right above Lake Kivu and the view looks down on the watershed, all the way down to the lake itself. Kanzu is on the downslope right below this forest, at an extremely high elevation, and we’ve always seen how climate plays a huge role in the flavor development of these coffees. The cherries here ripen a lot later than most of the country and are frequently one of the last harvests of the season.

The unique microclimate, meticulous harvest and processing, and constancy of community here keep us coming back every year.”

Recommended brewing methods: Filter (drip, pour over, aeropress), Espresso