The history of coffee cultivation in Rwanda is short, but rich. Rwandan kingdoms have a tradition dating back more than a thousand years and despite being “allocated” to Germany are the Berlin Conference of 1884, the first white person only entered its territory ten years later. Coffee growing was only introduced around the year 1933 by the Belgians. Coffee cultivation wasn’t a free profession, but a rule - coffee trees had to cover 25% of land. The state bought the coffee from the farmers, but also imposed an export tax on it, paid for by the farmers.

After the Republic of Rwanda declared independence in 1961, the only change was that the system had been taken over by new, local administrators. Coffee continued to decline from the already miserable state established by the colonists. Winds of change arrived relatively early, unlike in most other African countries. Already in the late 90’s, the government swiftly reacted to the dynamics of the specialty coffee market. The state monopoly was cancelled, direct trade between producers and buyers was allowed and market access denied to unnecessary middlemen.

These radical changes led Rwanda to a stable rise in not only the quality and price of its coffee, but also the stability of its society as a whole, which relies of coffee in a major way. Thanks to the injustice of the colonial times, Rwandans despised drinking coffee for decades, as it subconsciously reminded them of the humiliation of their people. Today, the people of Rwanda are rightfully proud of their coffee.

Additionally, thanks for the liberalization and globalization of today’s world, Rwanda is quickly overcoming the struggles caused by its inconvenient landlocked location. The internet and courier services make way for effective communication between buyers and producers, while the customs union of the East African Community made transport of coffee to the port in Dar es Salaam significantly easier.

Rwanda has been positively surprising everyone in the last few years, but even more is definitely to be expected of this wonderful country!

Arabica is cultivated almost exclusively. Robusta is rare and is very difficult to grow thanks to Rwanda’s high altitude. However, the robusta harvests are unique in all of the world. The tiny beans have really high density and incredible sweetness and even hints of acidity unheard of in robusta.

Red Bourbon is pretty much the only variety grown in Rwanda. It’s famous for its full body and fruitiness, meaning acidity and sweetness. The taste qualities are superior to many varieties and are a great counterweight to the relatively high susceptibility to disease.

The variety was introduced to Rwanda from the isle of Réunion (earlier known as Bourbon), which it reached through Yemen from its homeland in Ethiopia. Since then, no significant changes have happened. However, the coffee trees have been mutating and adapting to the local climate for decades. For this reason, they are slightly genetically distinct in various regions and altitudes.

Our partners are planning to introduce other varieties such as mokka or gesha, but they first have to overcome the bureaucratic barriers of legalizing the new varieties.

Rwanda is basically perfect for growing arabica in most of its territory, thanks to its high altitude, rich precipitation, modertae climate and volcanic soils. There is no official classification of coffee regions in Rwanda, so we label them according to nearby natural landmarks.

Nyamasheke is by far the most famous district for growing coffee in Rwanda. It’s the origin of the biggest and most sought-after part of the production, and the famous fruity coffees with tastes of stone fruits, which are caused by the significant rainfall. We place Nyamasheke in the Kivu region, named after the beautiful rift lake, which Rwanda shares with the DRC. You can find very similar taste profiles in the adjacent Nyungwe region, in coffees grown in the foothills of this magnificent cloud forest.

The second type of taste profile is represented by the thousand hills of the Rwandan Highlands. They extend from the southern border with Burundi all the way north to the Virunga Volcanoes, which lend a name to the more northern of these two regions. The altitude is the highest of all of Rwanda here, with slightly weaker precipitation. The fruitiness is less pronounced and brighter acidic tones of citruses come out, coupled with intense floral aromas. The biggest growth has been happening in the Nyabihu district.

A smaller part of production is happening in the eastern part of the country, which is dominated by rolling hills and lakes. We divide it into two regions, Lake Muhazi, which is the legendary birthplace of the Kingdom of Rwanda, and Akagera, named after a river and a national park of the same name. The altitude drops all the way to 1500 m.a.s.l. and precipitation is even lower. Acidity is significantly reduced, and the taste is dominated by pure sweetness coupled with intense floral, almost syrup-like tones.

Rwanda is dominated by wet processing. Moreover, the so-called double washed method is the most common. That means the coffee cherries are soaked in spring water for about 24 hours after pulping. The leftover mucilage swells and breaks down, which makes it easier to remove it and the resulting beans are more perfectly washed.

Even here, just like elsewhere in the world under the pressure of demand, other processing methods are gaining a foothold. You can find dry processing, various types of honey processing and even fermentation experiments. These methods are more demanding when it comes to both time, space and expertise to do right, but the resulting lots fetch a greater price on the market and improve the portfolio and increase competitiveness of the producers.

Rwanda boasts an outstandingly beautiful and well-maintained agricultural landscape. Coffee cultivation is very similar to surrounding countries. The amount of smallholder coffee farmers in Rwanda is estimated to be around 400 000 people. Each of them owns on average a quarter of a hectare of land with a small amount of coffee trees. These farmers further join themselves into cooperatives and sell their coffee cherry harvest to a washing station, where it is further processed and then sold onto the market.

This system is very ecological at its core. The individual farms are highly fragmented, do not form large monocultures, exhibit a diversity of species and create a relatively rich ecosystem for small animals. Unfortunately, in comparison with more developed countries, not all coffee trees are shaded, and if they are, not very effectively. This phenomenon is easy to tackle though and we are motivating our partners to take the necessary steps to improve this.

There used to be a big problem with overpopulation, similar to most of Africa and further exacerbated by the influx of refugees and returnees from the surrounding countries. However, the government manages to significantly stabilize the population by steadily and decisively improving the education and living conditions of the people. The national parks, whose areas were reduced in the 90’s, are planned to grow again in the near future and there are plans to gazette several small, but new ones. The longterm plan for the coming decades is to rebuild the cloud forest bridge between Virunga and Nyungwe.