Cyesha Honey

Rwanda — Muraho Trading Company Cyesha Washing Station Red Bourbon (Honey)

Tastes Like — 🍑 Dried Apricot • 🍋 Lemonade • 🍊 Orange

DETAILS

• Producer: Smallholder Farmers — Cyesha Washing Station, Muraho Trading Company
• Region: Nyamasheke District, Lake Kivu, Rwanda
• Varietal: Red Bourbon
• Process: Honey
• Altitude: 1,550–1,800 MASL
• Size: 250g 

INTRO

From the Cyesha Washing Station on the shores of Lake Kivu — one of Bluebird's favourite coffees from Rwanda, and part of Muraho Trading Company's celebrated network of stations in the Nyamasheke District. A honey processed Red Bourbon of vibrant citrus sweetness and dried fruit warmth. In the cup: dried apricot, lemonade, and orange.

THE PRODUCER

The journey to Cyesha begins with a four-hour drive from Kigali to the Nyamasheke District — through thousands of lush green forests, Rwanda's trademark rolling hills, and villages before arriving at the iconic Lake Kivu, Rwanda's largest lake and the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is on the shores of this lake that the Cyesha Washing Station sits, part of the Muraho Trading Company's portfolio of stations in the district.

Muraho Trading Company was born in Kilimbi — a nearby area in the same district — and has built a reputation for producing some of the finest coffees in Rwanda, with numerous stations placing in the Rwandan Cup of Excellence over the years. Cyesha is one of Muraho's most celebrated stations, working with smallholder Red Bourbon producers in the surrounding hills at 1,550–1,800 MASL.

Red Bourbon, the variety the Rwandan government mandates for national coffee production, thrives in the volcanic soils and cool highland conditions of Nyamasheke — producing the pronounced sweetness, bright acidity, and refined fruit character that define the region's finest lots, and that the honey process here amplifies beautifully.

THE PROCESS

The Honey process at Cyesha involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Ripe Red Bourbon cherries selectively harvested by surrounding smallholder producers 🔧 Depulping — Outer skin removed while the mucilage layer is retained on the bean ☀️ Raised-bed drying — Coffee dried with mucilage intact on raised beds, turned regularly throughout to ensure even drying and prevent uncontrolled fermentation

The retained mucilage during drying is the defining step — the honey process allows the bean to slowly absorb the cherry's natural sugars throughout the drying period, building the dried apricot sweetness and vibrant lemonade and orange acidity that define this lot while preserving the clean, bright structure of Cyesha's high-altitude Red Bourbon.

THE CUP

A vibrant and sweetly complex honey from one of Rwanda's most celebrated specialty washing stations — dried apricot warmth, lemonade brightness, and a juicy orange sweetness in a clean, well-structured cup that speaks of the extraordinary terroir of Lake Kivu's shores. One of Bluebird's favourite Rwandan coffees, and easy to see why.

Flavour Notes

🍑 Dried Apricot 🍋 Lemonade 🍊 Orange