Rwanda Rwamatamu Kibaya

Region: Mbare
Altitude: 1800 - 2000 m.a.s.l.
Variety: Red Bourbon
Processing: Washed

UK Arrival: November 2025

Tasting Notes: Leading with distinct dried apricot notes, this delicate coffee delivers well structured fruitiness and icing sugar sweetness with a characteristic Rwandan black tea finish.

This is the fourth coffee we’ve bought from Rwamatamu washing station since 2023 when our head of coffee, Ludwika Kopczynska, went to visit them. In that time, their coffee has continued to improve year on year. In 2024 they placed third overall at the annual Best of Rwanda competition and this year they placed second, beating over 300 lots of the country's top coffees produced this year.

The coffee was grown and picked by smallholder farmers in the hills nearby who sell their harvest to the washing station. At Rwamatamu the coffee is processed and then cupped for lot selection. This year we chose this lot for its strong apricot notes and its sweetness. It exemplifies washed process Rwandan coffee. Brew it as a pourover to enjoy its resonant fruitiness and delicate mouthfeel.

Producers

A family owned and operated washing station, Rwamatamu was established by Gaston Rutaganda and Laetitia Mukantwaza in 2015. Back then the couple wanted to grow and process coffee in order to support their family and to create jobs in their local community. There’s been a lot of growth since then but these twin aims, focusing on family and community, are still the driving forces at Rwamatamu.

One way they focus on community is by supporting women and young people through the Rwamatamu Women’s Cooperative and Rwamatamu Youth Association. The 21 members of the Women’s Cooperative sell their coffee to the washing station and get support through land, seedlings and monthly training sessions. The Youth Association brings together 19 young people, ages 18 to 35, who want to learn about coffee farming. The aging demographics of coffee farmers is a problem for the industry worldwide as young people chose more economically reliable career paths. In Mbare, the farming community skews older, because young people are increasingly gravitating toward opportunities in the nearby city of Kigali. As a result, farming - particularly coffee farming - is on the decline, often treated as a secondary endeavour to other cash crops being grown in the area. Like the Women’s Cooperative, Rwamatamu gifted them a plot of land and continued training in agronomy, as well as sensory skills training. 

Steampunk has contributed to both groups through Omwani’s Producer-Led Projects initiative. You can find more info about the projects or make a direct donation HERE. This year, we’ll continue to support the initiative and donate £1 from the sale of each tin.

The biggest news this past year for Rwamatamu, though, was their move to Mbare, from their previous location in Nyamasheke. They decided to sell their original site in favour of newer facilities both because they’re located much closer to the drymill they use in Kigali and because Mbare’s facilities have the capacity to process three times the volume previously possible at Nyamasheke. Rwamamtamu has committed to continuing to buy cherry from and support the Nyamasheke farmers, while also establishing new relationships with smallholders in Mbare.

Importer

Omwani was founded in 2018 and we’ve been buying coffee from them since 2020, after cofounder James Wilkinson made the trek out to our roastery in North Berwick with samples in hand. Today Omwani imports coffee from 11 East African origins to roasters all over the UK and Europe. 

A note about packaging

Our coffee comes packaged in beautiful and hard-wearing tins. It is important to keep those beans away from air and light (see our blog post about coffee storage) and we think tins are the very best way of keeping those guys fresh. 

Tins can of course be easily recycled (with other metals) but the very best and most environmentally conscious thing to do with them is to refill them. Find out how to refill or dispose of your Steampunk packaging HERE.