Shyira - Espresso from Rwanda

Shyira - Espresso from Rwanda - Coffee Info

How We Prepare This Coffee

An accessible, washed coffee from the Shyira Washing Station that impresses with subtle aromatics and silky elegance, without overwhelming you with wild flavors.

For Nadja, the coffee evokes a summer morning. It's 6 a.m., the warmth is already pleasantly noticeable, but the streets are still quiet. Michel sees himself jogging on the beach early in the morning while life slowly awakens. A light-footed summer coffee, smooth and delicate.

In the aromatics we find mirabelles, apricots, rooibos tea, red currants, and depending on the recipe, even a hint of pineapple.

We've tried several recipes with pressure and flow profiles and found: this coffee doesn't need them. The two standard 9 bar profiles convince us more than anything we've tried with other methods. A satisfying result for those who can't experiment with flow and pressure anyway.

With all profiles, we found that shorter drink ratios and extraction times work better for us. They produce a denser, softer, and sweeter cup.

The standard 9 bar profile (vibration pump) with slow pre-infusion brings out the best in this coffee. At 26 seconds and a drink ratio of 1:2.1, we get a sweet, silky-soft cup with medium body and acidity that is high but displays itself very elegantly — and therefore doesn't come across as intrusive at all. The coffee has a light bitterness that reminds us of gooseberries, grapefruit, and verjuice (juice from unripe grapes). Maro Code: PXFGZDE

This subtle fruity bitterness is even more pronounced with the rotary pump recipe, which Nadja particularly enjoys. With the same drink ratio, we pull the shot two seconds longer to 26-28 seconds. Maro Code: ACMOMJS

Why Does This Coffee Taste the Way It Does?

The Shyira Washing Station is the officially highest-altitude processing facility in Rwanda. The coffee cherries come from altitudes of up to 2300 m.a.s.l. The optimal weather conditions, soil composition, and altitude create an ideal foundation for exceptional coffees. The complexity and the zesty, lemonade-like acidity likely come from this.

After harvest, the cherries are pulped using the traditional "Ikininba" method. For this, people stand in fermentation tanks and crush the coffee cherries to remove the mucilage layer—freeing the coffee seeds from the cherry skin and fruit pulp. Almost like the way it's still done in certain wineries today. A process marked by tradition and community.

The coffee is then fermented for twelve hours before being carefully sorted and dried on drying beds for 30-35 days.

Why Did We Buy This Coffee?

We were able to source this coffee through Plotcoffee, who visited the washing station for the first time in 2024. We're sensorily well-calibrated with Plotcoffee — we find similar coffees interesting. When David showed up with a sample he'd received from Sebastian at Plotcoffee, it was immediately clear: "We need this coffee." Plotcoffee visited the Nyabihu region for the first time two years ago and was immediately impressed by the washing station's altitude and the precision with which work is carried out there.

How We Roast This Coffee

We roast this coffee as a 20kg batch on our 30kg Giesen roaster. With a total roasting time of just under 11 minutes and a development time of 1:14 minutes, we bring the coffee into first crack at 09:40 minutes.

The roast starts at a charge temperature of 188.4°C and ends at 191.8°C. During the first phase, we work with high energy input to guide the coffee stably through the drying phase.

After first crack, we gradually reduce the energy and allow the coffee to develop in a controlled manner. The proportion of development time is approximately 11.5%.

Shipping Also Available via Coffee Letter

All our coffees can be ordered in the form of a coffee letter. It's treated like a regular letter and arrives in your mailbox. This reduces postage for 250g of coffee from 7 to 2.50 francs. At checkout, you can choose between Coffee Letter, Priority Mail, and Standard Mail options.