East Africa
East Africa is a source of many fantastic coffees; Here we find top quality Robustas and Arabicas with unique characteristics.
Coffee Ithaka is predominantly an Ethiopia Specialist however we have branched out to neighboring coffee producing countries to expand the range of coffees that we can offer our customers, by capitalizing on our knowledge of the region.
To that effect, we offer Uganda and Rwanda coffees linking customers to very focused and dedicated coffee producers in these origins. As in many other East African countries production is nearly exclusively in the hands of smallholder farmers. As these countries are landlocked coffee is shipped from Mombasa (Kenya) or Dar s Salaam (Tanzania).
Rwanda produces exclusively Arabica coffee. Processing methods are split between Fully Washed and Semi-Washed. Although the proportion between the 2 processing methods fluctuates substantially most of the coffee is Fully Washed. Annual Production is around 25,000 MT concentrated around the Lake Kivu area to the West of the country, although there are other producing areas in the North and South and even around the capital city of Kigali.
The crop is harvested in March to June and the first shipments are in August. Rwanda coffee delivers on acidity and mild floral and citric aromas.