Rwanda, a landlocked country in eastern Africa, is full of hills with a high elevation and an ideal soil quality and climate for growing Arabica coffee beans. Known for its floral and fruity notes, coffee grown in Rwanda is an economic boon for the country and often of the highest possible quality, prized in the specialty coffee world.

Besides being fruity and floral, Rwandan coffee also often has notes of citrus (like orange blossom and lemon), red currants, berries, caramel, and white chocolate. There’s no metric that tracks the coffee beans’ flavors once they’re roasted, but the unique soil and growing conditions in Rwanda make for consistent results.

Virtually all of Rwanda's 400,000 coffee farms are in five regions: Kizi Rift, Kivu, Virunga, Muhazi, and Akagera, each between 4,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level. Differing elevations and soils create different flavors; Kivu's volcanic soil adds earthiness, while Virunga’s 7,000 foot elevation greatly increases quality in general.

Rwanda's coffee industry didn’t take off until the 1930s, whilst the country was still a member of Belgium's African empire, and farmers saw little profit. During the rebuilding of post-genocide Rwanda, international assistance, industrial trends towards justice, and interest in origin helped Rwandan coffee join the specialty market.