Rwanda Coffee Review Log: export difficulties

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"since everyone thinks that the No. 6 coffee bean tastes good, and the potato flavor defect that led to its elimination is only an accident, why don't we buy this failed batch. It's not worth selling such good coffee as commercial grade! " Johanna, dean of the Vienna Coffee Institute (Vienna School of Coffee), is still bitter about the "unfortunate" exit of Coffee No. 6.

"isn't that right?" "all the plants grown in Rwanda are bourbon," she added. It is rare to wait for the emergence of coffee with personality, but it happens to be tired by this abominable potato.

The land environment for government-led production is poor.

Driven by the wave of high-quality products, the pulse of the market is easier to spread to farmers everywhere. They are no longer willing to be simple growers, but plan to develop bean seeds and participate in processing, hoping to stand out in a highly competitive market. However, coffee production in Rwanda has been dominated by the government since the genocide: on relatively flat arable land, farmers rely on old trees that have been erected to produce coffee. In 2009, the National Coffee Statistics (Coffee Census) found that 24% of coffee trees are over 30 years old! Many of them grow on barren land without the protection of trees, and they do not prune tree trunks after the harvest season. The author saw that the tree was still hung with poorly grown but sun-dried fruit, buzzing and stinging by flies. All these will affect the flowering period and the quality of fruit in the following year.

What is even more worrying is that even fertilizers and saplings are rationed by the government. Although the number of private exporters is increasing, the mode of using water washing stations as receiving points will make the upstream growers take chances and push down the responsibility of gatekeeper. The Government does not want the production capacity of farms to be reduced as a result of tree change. the advantage of only planting bourbon is that coffee from different farms is exported with a single variety of coffee and the quality is more average.

Only bourbon is planted to ensure quality

"anyway, the beans that have been promoted to the international competition are already stored in the warehouse of the Ministry of Agriculture and can be exported at any time, saving a lot of formalities. At present, we still owe the identity of the farmers and negotiate the price. " Andre, a Brazilian, now studies the coffee trade in the Netherlands and knows a lot about the details of beans from the moment they left the farm to their arrival at the roaster. "although the price is a little higher, the painstaking efforts of farmers in selecting the participating batches are unparalleled. And health certificate (phytosanitary certificate), certificate of origin and other approval documents have been issued by the relevant departments. Farmers don't have to hire people to recycle, so you save time and benefit everyone. "

After consultation, we were referred to the co-operative. Farmers are deeply grateful that we are willing to buy beans that will be reduced to commercial coffee at boutique prices. But a day later we received bad news: due to the small number of batches, there was no insurance company to contract for a section of the way to the port.

The situation along the way is unstable, insurance refuses to contract logistics.

The coffee industry has a long chain. It involves different professional areas. This story mentions not only the growers, but also insurance and logistics. Rwanda is inland and goods are usually exported by land via Uganda or via Tanzania to the port of Mombasa (Mombasa) in Kenya. The import and export procedures for agricultural products involving third countries are complicated, especially in geographically unstable countries, it is difficult to find insurance companies to contract.

Some people want to buy, others want to sell, and even the Ministry of Agriculture is happy to promote a business that finally falls through because of logistics difficulties. How many people think of the coffee in the cup behind the journey, the industry's brain and sweat for it?

Patrick Tam (owner of the boutique coffee shop Knockbox, approved barista of the American and European boutique coffee associations, CQI recognized cup tester, Cup of Excellence's first Hong Kong resident judge, www.facebook.com/Knockboxcoffee)