Why Rwandan Coffee Can Become Starbucks Reserve Coffee Beans_The Significance of Coffee to Rwanda

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What kind of coffee beans can become Starbucks Reserve™ coffee beans? They may be nurtured by special geographical conditions, or perhaps through the dedicated cooperation of coffee farmers. Rwandan coffee represents the latter, where local women carefully select from the very first step of planting and adopt organic processing methods that give the coffee its distinctive flavor. This aroma of coffee comes to you, and today we share her story:

Rwanda: The Land of a Thousand Hills

Rwanda borders Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, Zaire to the west and northwest, and Uganda to the north. Rwanda is a mountainous country with six volcanoes, twenty-three lakes, and countless rivers - an inland African nation with remarkable ecological diversity and beautiful natural scenery. It is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills."

Rwanda is one of the few countries in the world that can fully enjoy the harmony between soil, altitude, and climate:

• Fertile acidic volcanic soil
• High altitude of 1500-2000 meters
• Rainfall of 900-2200mm
• Suitable cool temperatures of 18-22°C

Coffee Industry in Rwanda

Coffee cultivation is a traditional industry in Rwanda. As one of the least developed countries in the world, 90% of Rwanda's population relies on agriculture and animal husbandry.

In 1904, German missionaries introduced Bourbon varieties from Guatemala, and exports began in 1917. Through colonial trade policies, farmers were required to plant 70 coffee trees each, thus establishing Rwanda's coffee production history.

Unlike other coffee-producing countries, Rwanda still has no large-scale estates today. Instead, coffee cultivation is carried out by 500,000 small-scale farming households.

Coffee is primarily grown in cooperative form, with cultivation areas reaching 33,000 hectares and as many as 80 million coffee trees. In the 1990s, coffee became Rwanda's most important export product.

Challenges Faced by Rwandan Coffee

However, Rwandan coffee faces numerous challenges. The 1994 genocide - an organized ethnic cleansing primarily by Hutus against Tutsis and moderate Hutus - resulted in 800,000 to 1 million deaths, accounting for 10% of the national population. Most of those killed were young men, which was a devastating blow to this already impoverished agricultural nation.

The genocide nearly destroyed Rwanda's coffee industry, with coffee exports dropping to near zero.

Imperfect post-harvest management has become another stumbling block for coffee. Coffee cherries need to be transported to processing plants as quickly as possible after picking, but Rwanda lacks adequate facilities to process the cherries immediately. When picked cherries are piled up without proper ventilation, they accelerate mold and decay. Spoiled cherries affect coffee quality, creating defective flavors.

Furthermore, while Rwandan coffee can be traced back to washing stations supplied by cooperatives or small farmers (with each small farmer averaging 183 coffee trees), it's difficult to trace coffee back to individual growers, making consistent quality challenging to guarantee.

The Potato Defect

This effect appears only in Rwandan and Burundian coffee. When coffee cherries are infected by an unknown bacterium that enters the coffee skin, it produces undesirable effects. While this bacterium is harmless to human health, when infected coffee beans are roasted and ground, they release unpleasant, pungent, and irritating aromas reminiscent of peeled potatoes. This bacterium only affects specific coffee beans, so as long as they are sorted out from a bag before grinding, they won't affect other beans.

Eliminating this bacterium is extremely challenging. Once green bean processing is complete, infected coffee beans cannot be distinguished, making it difficult for coffee roasters to sort them out before roasting. Even after roasting, these beans are hard to detect until they are ground into powder and the defective odor is discovered.

The only possibility is to sort infected coffee cherries before processing, as infected cherries show obvious damage on their skin.

The Meaning of Coffee for Rwandan People

Coffee holds different meanings for everyone - perhaps a sense of ritual, or perhaps representing the pursuit of quality.

For the Rwandan people, they hope to increase coffee exports to drive national economic development. They also hope that the once-warring Hutu and Tutsi tribes can reconcile their grievances by planting coffee together, building a beautiful future through cooperation.

Coffee carries the hopes of the Rwandan people. Coffee is hope.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee): A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. Online shop services are also available at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

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