Rwanda Milles Collines Peaberry Lot 2 - 11.2oz

Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills, and the name fits. On the slopes above Lake Kivu, mist settles into the valleys each morning and coffee trees ripen slowly in the cool mountain air. This lot gathers the roundest seeds from that landscape.

OriginRwanda RegionLake Kivu, Western Province Elevation1,900m and above ProcessWashed Peaberry VarietyBourbon The Source

The Kivu Escarpment

The Milles Collines lot draws peaberry selections from cooperative washing stations across Rwanda's southern and western provinces, with the western farms perched on the steep volcanic escarpment above Lake Kivu. The land here breaks into small family plots, most no larger than a backyard, and each smallholder delivers ripe cherry to a shared station. What links them is the terroir: nutrient-rich volcanic soil, steady cloud cover, and cool nights that stretch cherry maturation and concentrate sugars in the seed.

Nearly all the trees are Bourbon, a heritage variety prized for sweetness and well suited to this high-altitude ground above 1,900 meters. Coffee is the rural backbone of Rwanda, supporting hundreds of thousands of smallholding families. The country grows well under one percent of the world's coffee and sits low among exporters by volume, but the craft per kilo runs high, and clarity-driven washed lots like this one are the reason buyers keep coming back.

The Craft

Sorted for Density

At each station, cherry is depulped, fermented to loosen the fruit, then washed clean and dried slowly on raised beds where workers hand-sort defects in the open air. From that washed coffee, the stations screen off the peaberries, the single round seeds that form in a small share of cherries instead of the usual two flat halves. Pooling those peaberries across stations yields a remarkably uniform bean: dense, even, and built for a clean, predictable extraction. You can read more about washed processing methods and how they shape clarity in the cup.

We roast this coffee to City+, a medium-light profile that protects the tea-like delicacy this lot is known for. Push a Rwanda Bourbon too far and you trade its florals and bright fruit for roast character. We stop short of that, holding the focus on sweetness and structure.

Loose Leaf Tea Apricot Brown Sugar Whole Spice BodyMedium AcidityBright The Cup

Tea-Like and Crisp

The aroma opens soft and herbal, rooibos and chamomile, like a pot of tea steeping. Through the middle the cup brightens into apricot and orange zest, lifted by a clean, juicy acidity that the dense peaberries deliver so reliably. Brown sugar sweetness carries the body, and the finish settles into cocoa and a whisper of clove.

It is balanced, crisp, and forgiving to brew. The peaberry density makes it easy to dial in, which is part of why this lot has earned its steady following.

Find Your Fix

This lot shines as pourover. Try a V60 or Chemex at a 1:16 ratio with water near 94 degrees, aiming for a flat bed and a drawdown around three minutes. For immersion, an Aeropress or Beehouse will round out the body nicely. Drip works well too for an easy daily cup. Browse our coffee beans and find your fix.

Roasted in small batches at our Virginia Beach roastery.

Packaged in reusable glass mason jars, returned locally for reuse. Solar-roasted.

Virginia Beach, VA