Rwanda – Bwishaza Kungahara (Natural)
This is the same Kungahara lot you love, just in natural form so the cup leans rounder, fruitier, and more juicy than the washed version. Expect ripe fruit sweetness up front, a deeper jammy middle, and a finish that stays surprisingly clean for a natural. Think apricot, blueberry, melon, and a light black-licorice/anise accent that adds depth without turning funky.
Selection Note: Selected through direct sourcing and rigorous cupping, then released as distinct process lots from the same foundation. If you try more than one version, you’ll taste how much the process alone can change the cup.
Origin: Rwanda
Process: Natural
Variety: Bourbon
Elevation: 1,650–1,800 m (5,413–5,906 ft)
Tasting Notes: Apricot • Blueberry • Melon • Black licorice
Where the washed lot is all about crisp structure and clarity, this natural version is the more expressive sibling more fruit, more sweetness, more aroma. It’s still controlled and “put together,” but you can tell the process is doing more of the talking.
This is also one we like to treat as a lighter-roast coffee. Keep it clean and you get bright fruit and candy-like sweetness; push it too dark and you’ll start trading those top notes for heavier, muddier flavors. In other words: it can absolutely be an anchor coffee, but it anchors best when you let it stay lively either as a fruit-forward single origin, or as the sweet backbone in a blend where you want roundness and aromatics without the cup turning chaotic.
Bwishaza washing station + women-led impact: Kungahara is a women’s group within the Bwishaza cooperative, formed with outside support to help women producers strengthen quality, consistency, and market access. Their coffee is processed through Bwishaza’s quality infrastructure (including the washing station for washed lots), where careful sorting and controlled processing support the clean, consistent profiles Rwanda is known for. Just as important, premiums tied to women-grown lots are designed to flow back into the group and the community—supporting training, ongoing quality improvements, and shared projects like collectively managed coffee land, including paying down the loan on a shared plot the women planted and farm together.
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