Ritual Coffee Roasters

This coffee, from the Cotecaga washing station in the Nyamasheke District, represents Ritual's first direct sourcing efforts from Rwanda! As a land-locked nation in central east Africa, Rwanda has long fought to fulfill a very promising potential with regard to their coffee production. Despite excellent varieties of coffee and neatly ideal growing conditions, Rwanda has struggled to build the needed infrastructure and quality standards to deliver on that potential. Over the past few years, different projects throughout the country have finally started to create opportunities for these coffees, and their producers, to flourish. Cotecaga is one of several excellent washing stations in the mountains above Lake Kivu in the very west of the country.

In their search for great coffee, Ritual Coffee Roasters had to go big or go home. Instead of selecting a small harvest, they picked two producers they trusted—Edilfonso Yara and Duver Rojas—and followed them to Gigante, Colombia. There, they discovered a collective called El Desarrollo Producers, a group of 80 small farmers who combine their crops into elegant lots. This roast, Gigante, takes its name from SF baseball and the sweet flavors of its Colombian home. Its aromas of flowers and honey open into a smooth, round cup. Flavors of cocoa and oak are balanced by a mild cherry acidity that ends with a gentle sweetness.