The Unique Grass-like Aroma of Rwanda Coffee Beans: Stories from Rwanda Coffee Growing Regions You Never Knew

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Rwanda Coffee

African coffees always give people a wild and unrestrained impression, but Rwanda coffee is so soft, fragrant, with saturated beans - this is my first impression of Rwanda coffee, speaking from an African perspective. Rwanda's coffee industry is indeed remarkable, as the country thrives mainly on producing high-quality coffee beans. The taste of Rwanda coffee is described as having "grass fragrance" with tropical climate characteristics. Thanks to Rwanda's exceptionally fertile soil and suitable climate that greatly promotes plant growth, the coffee trees here seem driven or forced to grow vigorously upward, as if growing too quickly to produce premium coffee beans. But regardless, Rwanda coffee's soft and rich taste is excellent. Especially the unique caramel-rich aroma and aftertaste that emerges at the end - it's truly worth experiencing personally.

About Rwanda Coffee

Rwanda coffee, once rarely seen in America, whether as professional-grade or low-end commercial coffee. It was hardly found anywhere in Belgium, except for one specific importer dealing in Rwanda coffee production, the country's former colonizer. Coffee is believed to have been introduced to Rwanda in 1904 by German missionaries. Around 1930, considerable interest developed in coffee as it was the only income commodity for rural families. The government encouraged (actually, they mandated) low-quality, mass production. Even with this low-grade coffee production, coffee played a significant role in the country's economic development as one of the few cash crops. However, with the collapse of world coffee prices in international markets, the push to export low-grade Arabica became less and less appealing.

Then came the genocide of the 90s, one of the most horrific events in modern history. It makes me dizzy just imagining how a country recovers, how people return to "normal" life after such massive tragedy. But Rwanda's recovery after the genocide has been steadfastly open. (A personal thought: I believe the world's interest in Rwanda was low because Rwanda's self-interest was low. What does Rwanda produce and export that the world cares about? Clinton said so much at the time, and other world leaders regretfully recalled watching the same massacre happen. I feel that interest in Rwanda, awareness of its products and people, is another tragedy that's hard to ignore, and coffee is the "bridge to the world" in this sense.)

Transportation has been a problem with Rwanda coffee. Coffee was traditionally transported across Uganda to Mombasa, Kenya for shipment to Europe, a journey that could damage coffee, and relied on the region's economic and political stability. As a result, coffee couldn't reach markets, and prices and incentives to produce high-grade coffee greatly decreased for village coffee farmers. This is why it came as a great surprise to receive excellent coffee from Rwanda's small village coffee farms and washing stations. In fact, the ability of rural people to care for their crops and get their export prices is a good sign for Rwanda, and for us... because this is an origin with tremendous potential. Historically, Rwanda has been the ninth-largest Arabica producer in Africa, with over 500,000 small farms averaging less than 1 hectare each. Coffee is grown in the country's western and central regions near the capital Kigali. Eastern Rwanda, more than one-seventh of the country, is designated as a national park where no coffee production is permitted.

Rwanda has much going for it: traditional varieties, good altitude, and willingness to accept guidance from USAID advisors and others! This is in some ways a subtle coffee, sitting alongside many Kenya cup profiles, but these subtle citrus acidity characteristics, interesting aromatics, and consistent quality make it a more interesting origin than Zambia and Zimbabwe at this point.

Rwanda Coffee Company

Rwanda Coffee Company was founded when founder Carl Weyrauch, along with his wife Patricia Boyko and their daughter Anna, visited Rwanda to teach public health personnel for Rwanda Native, a local non-profit. Through a series of coincidences and detours, they found themselves at COOPAC, a fair trade coffee cooperative near Lake Kivu.

Carl offered to bring coffee samples back to Seattle, thus was born his interest in Rwanda coffee as a vehicle for nation-building after the genocide. Helping combat poverty among its 2,198 member farmers, COOPAC greatly improved their health as well.

Another surprising thing about COOPAC is that it's actually helping heal the wounds of the 1994 genocide, which American audiences learned about in the film "Hotel Rwanda." Women hand-sort the beans and as they do, they talk - building relationships between genocide perpetrators and surviving victims - reconciliation in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Interestingly, COOPAC includes individual community members of the pottery community (formerly Batwa pygmies), a marginalized minority within Rwanda. When expanding earlier this year, Carl and his friends started the US-based non-profit Pygmy Survival Alliance to apply all profits from Rwanda coffee sales to improve the survival and welfare of these, the poorest people in Rwanda: both those who have been "left behind by history" and their neighbors.

Thus, Rwanda Coffee Company is a "social enterprise" that's all about health, survival, education, and welfare for families living in poverty on less than a dollar a day in one of the world's least developed countries. Each bag of coffee sold generates enough money to buy three pairs of shoes for children, enabling them to attend school, often for the first time; or, provide health insurance for two people for a year. Or, it can do many other good works through our cooperation in Rwanda with volunteers in the United States.

Moreover, it simultaneously provides great cupping coffee! This is a win-win proposition.

Thank you for your interest in this project and in the welfare of the people of Rwanda. As they say in the Kinyarwanda language: "Cyane Murakoze"

Rwanda Coffee Success Story

A walking tour through some trendy cafes near New York University revealed a common element: creatively packaged, expensive Rwanda coffee for sale.

Given our long-term interest in 1) good coffee and 2) entrepreneurial development potential, this phenomenon clearly deserves investigation. The work of Carol Baudelot, who has been in the Rwanda coffee sector for several years, helps outline part of the donor-funded development success story that is now unfolding.

Rwanda's coffee history is intertwined with the country's political destiny, dating back to the 1930s when the Belgian colonial government required Rwandan farmers to plant coffee trees, while setting price limits and high export taxes, and controlling which businesses could purchase coffee. These policies helped create a "low-quality/low-price trap" that would continue to plague even under harsh policies from post-colonial governments. They also guaranteed that the country would develop an aversion to the product - reportedly, even today, many Rwandans prefer tea.

In the late 1980s, global coffee prices plummeted, and after the devastating economic impact, Rwanda's 1994 genocide wiped out the struggling industry. In 2000, there was no operational infrastructure for washing and processing coffee beans, which meant small coffee producers produced lower quality...

Fast forward to today, more than a decade later: Rwanda has a national coffee strategy. Rwanda specialty coffees are winning international competitions, commanding some of the world's highest prices, and being sought by Starbucks, Green Mountain Coffee, Intelligentsia, and Counter Culture Coffee. There's preliminary evidence that the coffee industry is creating jobs, improving small farmers' spending and consumption, and possibly even promoting social reconciliation and reducing "ethnic distance" between Hutu and Tutsi who work together growing and washing coffee.

How did this happen? First, the Rwandan government lowered trade barriers and deregulated coffee growers. Second, Rwanda developed a strategy targeting high-quality coffee production, specialty products whose prices remain stable even when industrial-grade coffee prices fall. Third, international donors provided funding, technical assistance, and training, establishing programs like the USAID-funded Sustainable Partnerships to Enhance Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development (SPREAD). The predecessor project began spreading in 2001 with the first Rwanda coffee cooperatives, and the project continues to improve its work across all aspects of the newly discovered high-value coffee supply chain.

Rwanda Coffee Results

Some problems and constraints still plague Rwanda's coffee industry. For example, transportation costs remain high, and in the past, mismanagement in some coffee cooperatives has pointed to the need for good training and continuous financial management skills.

Still, coffee revenue from Rwanda continues to grow despite facing global economic recession, and this revenue brings tangible benefits to Rwanda's rural poor.

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