The Kamajumba Estate lies on a peninsula directly at the Lake Kivu in Western Rwanda, where the border with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) goes right through the lake. The area is surrounded by many volcanoes. Most of them are not active, but Mount Nyiragongo recently erupted on the Kongolese side near the lake and left many people around the city of Goma without homes. The lake is situated on 1460 masl and the proximity to the equator as well as the volcanic soil offer unique conditions for growing coffee on the peninsula.

Kivubelt Coffee was founded in 2011 by Furaha Umwizeye Teuscher. After finishing her Master's degree in Economics in Switzerland she returned to Rwanda, where she took on the challenge to start a coffee farm. Since then, more than 90'000 coffee trees were planted in the Kivubelt region around the lake on the three farms, that belong to the company. Kivubelt Coffee also engages with local smallholder farmers who bring their coffee cherries to Kivubelt's washing stations. The young company puts emphasis on vertical integration and applies ecologic and sustainable farming practices whenever possible. Employees of Kivubelt Coffee receive access to education and possibilities for work outside the harvest season. They also have health insurance.

We have bought this coffee for the third time in a row through Vanía Nzeyimana of Somaho, a small company dedicated to importing high-quality Rwandan coffee to Europe. Doing so, Vanía and her team put emphasis on social justice, ecological responsibility and a coffee trade with producers and buyers on eye level.

Until the last harvest, we roasted Kamajumba for espresso brewing, although we have always liked it brewed as a filter, too. We now decided to roast it primarily for filter brewing. This doesn't mean you can't use it for espresso anymore – it is still very suitable for use with your espresso machine.

As a filter, it is sweet and fruity with a lot of clarity and pronounced notes of citrus fruit. It is mostly lemon, orange and bergamot in our palates. The chocolate note is more present in espresso than filter, though it's still there in the background. The profile is topped off with a slightly floral note which makes us think of a lightly-extracted black tea.