Rwanda is a small country right at heart of east Africa. Belgian colonizers used to call it “Land of a thousand hills”. Of course it has many more. Rwanda has left behind the civil war that haunted their recent memory, and hopefully now people see the future with optimism.

One of the things that impressed me in during my visit was the cleanness and the fact that they do not use any plastic bags, but only paper ones.

In Rwanda the coffee produced is of very high quality (that is an indication of where this country goes). Important factor is the environment, characteristics as the volcanic soil, the altitude of 1.700 m – 2.000 m and of course their techniques- applied both by cooperatives and also by private coffee stations, guarantee for the best result.

I visited Kageyo cooperative and Gitesi private washing station. These two stations are placed in west Rwanda and both get high scores in the Cup Of Excellence. After my visit in Kageyo and right before arriving at Gitesi we slept over at Cormoran Lodge, in Lake Kivu.

Lake Kivu covers 2700 km² in an altitude of 1460 m., one of ten biggest in the world. I felt more than happy as we arrived right before sunset.

I decided to brew some coffee.I had brought with me some roasted coffee from Kageyo, a manual grinder and Hario dripper, Taf’s cup, so the only thing missing was hot water. Thankfully there was a kettle in my room. The problem was that I could not check the water’s temperature.

I enjoyed this high quality coffee feeling at the same time isolated, somewhere all alone.The internet connection revealed the ugly truth. That moment remains in my mind as one of the most magical. Brewing helped.