Manhattan – Kalila Kantengwa 125g | Rwanda

Kivubelt Coffee Ltd was founded in 2011 by Furaha Umwizeye Teuscher — a Rwandan economist who returned from Switzerland with a master's degree and a vision of contributing meaningfully to her country's rural economy. Her model was built on vertical integration: own the land, run the washing stations, and control quality from cherry to export. The company now manages over 45 hectares of coffee plantations across three estates — Jarama, Kamajumba, and Nyaruzina — in the Nyamasheke district along the shores of Lake Kivu, with two on-site washing stations and a workforce of between 100 and 600 seasonal and permanent workers. Kalila Kantengwa serves as Managing Director today.

The Jarama estate is Kivubelt's largest, sitting several hundred metres higher than the company's other farms — reaching up to 1,900 metres above sea level. Three elements converge here to create conditions of rare quality: the humid equatorial mist drifting in from Lake Kivu, the rich volcanic soils formed by the Virunga mountains, and an altitude that slows cherry maturation to the point where complexity accumulates slowly and naturally in the fruit. This is the terroir that produced the lot ranked second at the most recent Best of Rwanda competition — the most rigorous national quality benchmark in Rwandan specialty coffee.

The coffee is a Red Bourbon, one of Rwanda's defining cultivars, processed using the natural method: cherries are dried whole, allowing the bean to absorb the full aromatic character of the surrounding fruit across an extended drying period. Handled correctly, natural processing at this altitude on this variety produces a cup that layers complexity upon complexity. Manhattan's tasting team found the profile so multi-dimensional that they extended their usual three tasting notes to four: granadilla, golden syrup, pomelo, and rose hips. This marks the first Rwandan coffee to enter Manhattan's World Class category, and it earns its place.

Freshly roasted by Manhattan Coffee Roasters and imported to the UK by ROAST EDIT Co.