Rwanda Mutovu Video Tour: Incremental Improvements to a Competition-Level Cup

Watch our Rwanda Mutovu video tour for an up close look at this coffee washing station in Nyamasheke that we’ve bought from for many years.

Right now we see the return of Nyamasheke Mutovu, a coffee we’ve been lucky enough to buy every year since the cooperative started up in 2012. Why do we consider ourselves “lucky”, you ask? To start, Mutovu is one of the most consistent Rwandan coffee processing stations we buy from in terms of a high cup score and flavor profile. But luck has little to do with their success. The improvements they’ve made to both infrastructure and process are evident when we visit, and not doubt factor into their consistency as coffee producers.

Mutovu has been around for nearly a decade and is located in the Nyamasheke District near Nyungwe National Forest. The processing site sits at 1750 meters and the coffee is grown up to about 1900. It started out as a small cooperative owned by only a few local farmers who processed their own coffee as well as bought coffee from other farmers in the region. Mutovu sold a few years back to a private coffee company, though operation is still under the management of the local community.

A shot from our very first visit to Mutovu cooperative when it started in 2012

Mutovu shows some of what we consider to be archetypal Rwandan coffee flavors (these often apply to Burundi too); dark tea and spice notes, articulated acidity, and very well-balanced sweetness. The varietal grown is Bourbon, which when cultivated at high altitudes has high potential for sweetness. The seeds are dense too, which lends to roast versatility and a coffee that functions well in many different brew applications.

Order a bag today on Sweet Maria’s, or Coffee Shrub


Tom put together a short video from his last visit to Mutovu in May, 2019. He shows us Mutovu’s workflow from whole cherry to coffee drying on the beds and shares his thoughts on how small improvements at the mill have made a big impact on the cup. Mutovu is also C.A.F.E. Practices certified by Starbucks, which has meant an added layer of quality control, increased level of financial transparency, and commitment to environmental stewardship and community.

Check out this blind tasting Tom did where he compares coffees from Rwanda and Burundi to those from Central America. There’s more cross-over in the cups than you might think. This makes the timing of Rwandan availability attractive, as they come at a time when coffees from Central America are sparse.

View our entire Rwanda stock on Sweet Maria’s / on Coffee Shrub

Also see our article  Congo Kivu Coffee Photo Tour

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