Rwandan coffee was, at one time, rarely seen in the United States as either a Specialty grade or low-end commercial coffee. There simply was not that much coffee produced in Rwanda that went anywhere besides one particular importer in Belgium, the former colonizer of the country. It is believed that coffee was introduced in Rwanda in 1904 by German missionaries. Around 1930, a considerable interest in coffee developed as it was the sole revenues generating commodity for rural families. The government encouraged (actually, they mandated) low quality, high-volume production. Even with this low grade coffee production, coffee played a considerable role in the economic development of the country because it was one of the few cash crops. But with the collapse of world coffee prices at the international market level, the push to export low grade arabica made less and less sense.

Rwanda has a huge quality advantage of growing 95% Bourbon cultivar coffees, including different strains (Jackson, POP, BM etc). Above, ripe Bourbon coffee cherry from my 2008 trip.

Typical washing station (wet mill). This is at Bufcafe, where our Butare coffee comes from. Washing stations are communal, and often used by more than one farm or cooperative. Here is info about the wet mill improvement project.

Our lot of Womens Coop Duhingekeni being sorted. I made a separate Duhingekawa page with additional photos and information about this group,

Then there was the genocide in the 90s, one of the most horrendous occurrences in modern history. It makes me dizzy just imagining how a country recovers, how people go back to a "normal" life after the tragedy of monumental scale. But the recovery in Rwanda has occurred with an unflinching openness to the genocide. (A personal thought: I think much of the world stood by because awareness of Rwanda was low, and self-interest in Rwanda was low. What did Rwanda produce and export that the world cared about? Clinton said so much at the time, and in retrospect regretted it as did other world leaders on whose watch the massacre happened. I feel that interest in Rwanda, awareness of their products and the people, would make another tragedy difficult to ignore, and coffee is a "gateway to the world" in that sense.)

Transportation is a probem with Rwanda coffee too. The coffee has historically been transported across Uganda to Mombasa, Kenya for shipment to Europe, a trip that can damage the coffee, and one that relies on economic and political stability in the region. The result is that the coffee cannot reach market, so the price and the incentive to produce top-grade coffee had diminished greatly for the village coffee farmer. That's why it comes as a very pleasant surprise to receive excellent Rwandan coffee from small-holder village coffee farms and small mills (called washing stations). The fact that rural people can tend their crops and get export prices for them is a good sign for Rwanda, and for us ... because this is an origin with great potential. Historically, Rwanda has been the 9th largest producer of arabica in Africa, with 500,000 small farms averaging less than 1 hectare each. Coffee is grown in the western part of the country and in the central area near the capital of Kigali. The eastern part of Rwanda, over 1/7th of the country, is set aside as a national park and there is no coffee production permitted. For many pictures and more information about Rwanda coffee, see my travelog when I was on the jury for the first-ever Rwanda Cup of Excellence competition in late August 2008.

Some general statistics: Coffee is grown by small scale coffee farmers estimated at 400.000 in number, with an average of 165 coffee trees per farmer;
· Only Arabica coffee varieties are grown, with the predominance of bourbon varieties, and small amounts of Caturra and Catuai mixed in.
· Bourbon types include ; POP3303/21; Jackson 2/1257; BM 139.
· Altitude range from 1200 to 1800 meters above sea level;
· Rainfall range from 900 to 2200 mm per annum;
· Soils are generally good, with high yield potential for coffee. About 30% of soils under coffee cultivation are of volcanic origin;
· Cultivated area under coffee farming: 28,000 hectares;
· Flowering: September - October;
· Harvesting season: March - July;
· Wet processing methods;
· Caffeine content: 1.3%;