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Introducing Whole Latte Love Rwanda Single Origin
Single origin coffees have always been some of my favorites because they offer a very unique expression of the coffee, the processing method, and ultimately the origin. I’m incredibly pleased to introduce you to the next entry into our growing line of Whole Latte Love coffees, Rwanda Single Origin. If you read our article on the Birds, Bees and Brews event at the Seneca Park Zoo back in May, then you’ve already gotten a sneak peek of this incredible coffee and our limited edition bags that we made for the event.
Now that it’s here, we’ll be taking a closer look at this new coffee, and on the topic of expression, we’ll also be going behind the scenes with our Senior Graphic Designer Elley to hear more about her process for designing the bag as well as working with a new canvas.
The Coffee
Similar to our single origin Ethiopia, Rwanda is a natural process coffee that is dried in raised beds. As a result, the coffee is very sweet with a syrupy body, though more complex tea and grape notes can be discovered with proper brewing. Where Ethiopia is a bit more of a fruit bomb, Rwanda is a bit more like a sweet black tea. It slots nicely into our existing assortment of coffees, presenting an alternative to fruit acidity, chocolate body, and nutty finishes.
The beans themselves hail from the Rugali community in Africa at a washing station on Lake Kivu. This station has produced coffees used in numerous barista competitions and is working to plant more coffee trees to improve production and coffee quality to help the farmers in the region improve their livelihoods.
Pour-Over Recipe
Rwanda can be enjoyed using either a conical or flat dripper, but a quality grinder is the most important factor when brewing with Rwanda.
Ratio - 1:16
Time - 2:15 - 2:45
Temp - 197-198° F
Device - Conical or Flat Dripper
Espresso Recipe
When prepared as espresso, we recommend dosing between 17-19g of coffee. Shots under 17g lacked sweetness, while shots above 19g were a bit too heavy in mouthfeel.
Ratio - 1:2.5
Temp - 198° F
Time - 19-24 sec (professional rotary pump) / 22-26 sec (vibration pump)
The Design
The bag design for our Rwanda single origin coffee was once again illustrated by our Senior Graphic Designer Elley Ellison with input and feedback from Jesse Salzman. We sat down with Elley for some insight into the design and the artwork she created for it.
What was some of the inspiration behind the design for Rwanda SO?
Before I started working on Rwanda, I reviewed our original Single Origin lineup (Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Colombia) and during that review, I noticed that those designs leaned heavily into landscape compositions. For Rwanda, I wanted to shift the focus toward a single, iconic subject, similar to how Hidden Malabar features a tiger, Beaned Up has the UFO, and Crema Wave uses the wave.
From there, I built a color palette inspired by the coffee's tasting notes and overall flavor experience. I also carried over the same illustrative textures used throughout the WLL’s coffee line to create cohesion, while introducing bold new elements that give Rwanda its own distinct personality.
Animals have appeared on both of the bags you’ve designed so far. Trend or coincidence?
Maybe a little of both—but it's definitely an intentional design choice. I'm excited to continue exploring this direction as illustrating symbolic imagery, like the gorilla, allows a broader range of consumers to connect with the product. That said, both designs have definitely pushed my skill set. As someone who doesn't typically illustrate animals, they've been a fun creative challenge!
Anything else you want to share about the design?
This bag marks a couple of exciting firsts for us. Not only is it the first in our new packaging format, but it's also the first coffee bag to feature the updated Whole Latte Love logo introduced in Winter 2025. I'm also excited to hear what our customers think of both the new artwork and the new bag design!
The New Packaging
You might have noticed that the shape of our bag for Rwanda is a bit different from our previous designs. That's because we'll be updating our single origin packaging as we phase out the previous bags for a shorter, wider design. Apart from that, the same delicious coffee can be found in each one.
Final Thoughts
If you're a fan of sweet, natural process coffees I strongly recommend that you give this one a try. If not, the beautiful artwork still might be enough to convince you to pick up a bag. Personally, I'm in both camps. I'm also happy to tease that there's more to come on the Whole Latte Love coffee front, but for now, we'll leave it at that!
Photography and Graphics by Grace Walker and Elley Ellison
Shop This Blog
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Our Rwanda Rugali single origin coffee is an versatile, natural process coffee with sweet notes of maple syrup, floral black tea, and red grape. This coffee can be enjoyed with all brew methods and produces pleasantly complex espresso and milk drinks. -
The Gaggia Classic Pro E24 is a premium entry-level espresso machine designed and built entirely in Italy. Made from commercial-grade components, the Classic Pro E24 features a one-piece steel frame, 3-way solenoid valve, 58mm portafilter, & an all-new brass boiler for improved capacity and performance. -
The Varia VS4 is single-dosing, conical burr grinder that has been optimized for extremely low retention and ultra precise burr movement. Designed for all purpose use, the variable speed motor can be used to reduce fines when grinding for filter preparation for clean, crispy pour overs. The new locking adjustment collar permits burr movement of just 10 microns and can be removed without losing your grind setting. -
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Fully Bluetooth compatible and packed with helpful features like auto tare, auto time, first-drip recognition, and dedicated espresso and pour-over brewing modes, Varia’s AKU Pro scale is both versatile and powerful. -
The Varia FLO is a revolutionary coffee dripper with interchangeable center plates that can be swapped out to influence the rate and direction of water flow during extraction. -
Varia's FLO Filter Papers are made from premium Japanese pulp and available two sizes and two speeds to optimize your extraction. -
Hand-blown from sturdy, borosilicate glass, Varia’s 0.4L double-walled glass server is the perfect companion to their FLO dripper for those who brew in smaller batches. -
KINTO's CLK-151 series of cups and mugs are made in Japan using traditional sandstone and porcelain materials. -
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