Development History of Rwanda Coffee Industry Starbucks Rwanda Shuli Coffee beans characteristic Flavor

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

The top 10 coffee producing countries in the world, mostly concentrated in South America, Southeast Asia and Africa, especially Africa, as the hometown of coffee, have been hoping to expand the international market. Among them, Rwanda, a small country in Central Africa, has been unable to win by quantity because of its small land. fifteen years ago, it turned to boutique coffee, specializing in "all-washed" coffee beans compared with traditional sun-cured coffee beans. Washed raw beans can be sold without turnips and have a pure flavor, but it takes 10 liters of water to wash 1 kilogram of raw beans, and the final selected raw beans are only 200 grams. However, Rwanda relies on a strategic transformation to earn US $60 million a year in foreign exchange by exporting coffee alone, making it the new favorite of international boutique coffee.

Africa, one of the top 10 coffee producers in the world, ranks two. Although growing coffee requires certain geographical and climatic conditions, Rwanda, a small country in Central Africa, has excelled in the market in recent years by relying on "boutique coffee."

Gilbert Catari, general manager of boutique coffee merchants: "the American Fine Coffee Association, the definition of" boutique coffee "refers to high-quality coffee."

The harvested raw beans are usually treated by sun, half-water or full-water washing. compared with the traditional sun washing, the flavor of the harvested raw beans is purer, and the cost is relatively high of 1 kilogram of fruit. it takes an average of 10 liters of water to screen out 200 grams of raw beans.

Gilbert Catari, general manager of boutique coffee merchants: "Rwanda doesn't have a lot of land, so it's hard to win by quantification. at the strategic level, you can at least give added value to your products to compete and improve quality."

Located in 1400 Michael's original terrain and nourished by volcanic soil, Rwanda actually has excellent conditions for coffee production but is unable to compete for mass production. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda even destroyed the local coffee industry. Until 2000, through policy promotion, the Rwandan government turned the coffee industry to refined development, specializing in fully washed coffee beans, and really washed a new blue sea in the international market.

"in 2002, boutique coffee accounted for only 1% of our total coffee production, when there were only two bean washing factories, but 13 years later we now have 230 bean washing factories, while this year we produce 45% of our coffee," said Ka Yongjia, chief executive of Rwanda's agricultural export development board. "

Coffee has become a major export of Rwanda, bringing Rwanda 60 million US dollars in foreign exchange earnings in 2014, half of which will benefit from fine coffee. In addition to exporting good coffee to the world, Rwanda is now beginning to cultivate the domestic market to develop local brands. I hope you can taste the rich aroma that grows on this land.

Coffee shop customer: "there is a special aroma that tastes good. I tried coffee from seven different countries. The coffee from Rwanda is really good."

Gilbert Catari, general manager of boutique coffee merchants: "Africa is famous for its excellent coffee products, exported in its original appearance, processed and re-imported. Since we have such a great product, why can't people in Rwanda taste it?"

Why do you sell your own coffee only to foreigners and you can't keep it for yourself? the idea of hiding money has also begun to ferment in Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer. With the economic take-off, Brazilians pay more and more attention to the quality of coffee. For example, in this coffee shop, where the unit price is twice as expensive as the average, customers always dare to be more expensive than others because they bake beans directly in the store. It tastes fresh when you cook it for the guests as soon as it's baked.

Coffee shop customer: "the special coffee tastes different, as long as it is good and expensive. The coffee that Brazilians drink now is better and of higher quality than it was 10 years ago."

Brazil produces 2.7 billion kilograms of coffee a year, accounting for one-third of the world's output. In the past, almost all beans of good quality were exported without the habit of staying at home. In particular, many large international factories bought fields directly to ensure that good coffee beans were not taken away by their competitors, and even sent special personnel to the local to monitor the quality of production.

American coffee field cadres: "the overall consumption of high-quality coffee is increasing, and the consumption of high-quality coffee beans in the United States is growing at double digits every year."

In order to keep more good beans in Brazil, Japanese manufacturers of high-quality coffee began to promote high-quality coffee in Brazilian supermarkets the year before last, looking for Japanese farmers to coordinate and expand the planting area, otherwise what can be left to domestic consumers is really limited.

Jiahong, a Japanese Brazilian coffee merchant village: "quality and food safety, Brazil will also become more and more strict, at this time more hope to be able to open up, can work with us to overcome obstacles of coffee farmers."

In order to make money, businessmen naturally have to find ways to meet. Consumers are becoming more and more cunning, and the balance between domestic demand and export has become a new topic in the international coffee industry.

END