Vote of confidence on Rwandan coffee shop trying to fill the old Marino's restaurant
A first-in-the-U.S. Rwandan coffeeshop is set to take over a long-vacant space on Mass Ave. in North Cambridge:
“We had to treat this coffee like fine wine,” he said, describing the taste as “mouth-bursting” with an extreme heavy body rich with notes of floral, jasmine and cocoa flavor.
If allowed in Cambridge, Bourbon Rwanda would be the first coffee shop of its kind in the country.
Karuletwa was born in Uganda and grew up as a refugee, fleeing to Kenya and then to Rwanda in 1994 after the war subsided. He moved to California in 1996 on a basketball scholarship, went back to work in Rwanda for six years, before ending up in Cambridge where he now lives.
Karuletwa said he wants to be sure people know where his coffee comes from. The café would include tracing technology that allows customer to get a virtual tour of how their beverage went from “crop to cup” with testimony from farmers, map locations and delivery facts.
According to the Cambridge Chronicle, the Cambridge Licensing Board will meet January 20th to decide whether to transfer the building’s license to Karuletwa.
Sounds like a welcome addition to me.
