The roastery's been abuzz as of late with the first coffee to be released in our 2012 Reserve Line, an offering from the Hinga Kawa Women's co-operative in Rwanda. There's been trial roasting, sipping, swigging, talking and tweaking aplenty. We are thrilled with the resulting fine and unique cup, and we'll talk more about that later, but we can't talk about this coffee without talking about what an important social project it represents – for us, for the families of Hinga Kawa, and for you.

First, a little history. Until very recently nearly all Rwandan coffee was low-grade Arabica intended for the commodity market. Under Belgian colonial government, farmers were required to plant coffee trees for high-volume low-quality production. As the sole purchaser of these small producers’ coffee, the Belgian colonial government dictated the buying price, paying the farmers a pittance while they prospered. After the global market price for coffee...