What are the characteristics of Rwandan coffee, a new coffee producing area? How's the coffee from Rwanda?

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

Rwandan coffee is the most popular African coffee after Kenya and Ethiopia. But unlike the two famous producing countries, it does not have a long history of planting, let alone native varieties everywhere in the wild. This small African country is a fire Phoenix that has been reborn after robbery.

Rwanda (Rwanda), known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, sits above the equator and is surrounded by East African States such as Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. Geographically, it has suitable conditions for growing coffee, but since it was introduced by German missionaries in 1904, Rwandan coffee has been poorly handled commercial grade, most of which have been exported to the sovereign country of Belgium. The promotion of boutique coffee production began only after the ravages of war and after the economy got back on track.

Located in the southern equator of central Africa, Rwanda is a landlocked country, bordering Tanzania (Tanzania) to the east, Burundi to the south, Congo (Congo) to the west, and Uganda (Uganda) to the north. The territory is mountainous, known as the "country of a thousand hills (Thousand Hills of Nation)". The divide between the Congo River and the Nile River runs through western Rwanda from north to south. Rwanda has a high-altitude mountain environment, fertile volcanic soil and abundant precipitation, and has a climate conducive to the growth of coffee trees. Rwanda's economy is dominated by agriculture. The population engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry accounts for 92% of the country's population. The main cash crops are coffee, tea and cotton. Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Pulondi are grouped into the five countries of the East African Community.

The genocide (Genocide), which occurred in 1994, killed more than 1 million people, most of them Tutsi (Tutsi). So far, there are orphans who survived that year, memorial halls that can be seen everywhere, and war criminals who account for 90% of the total number of prisoners in the streets of Rwanda. Since 2001, the Government of Rwanda has established NAEB (National Agriculture Export Development Board), which focuses on promoting coffee exports and earning foreign exchange.

1964-official Organization of Rwandan Coffee officially established

Shortly after Rwanda became independent from Belgium on July 1, 1962, the government established the official coffee organization OCIR (Office Des Cultures Industrielles Du Rwanda). Now OCIR, which belongs to the Ministry of Commerce of Rwanda, is an important driving force in helping the region to move towards boutique coffee. Since the establishment of OCIR, the price of coffee has stabilized, and RWANDEX, which OCIR invested in, was the only coffee exporter in Rwanda at that time. Since the approach adopted at that time was to centralize the coffee fruits of all small farmers for post-processing, it was not known who planted a particular batch, and small farmers had no motivation to pursue high-quality coffee fruits.

2004-USAID helps Rwanda build 20 new coffee washers in the country

With the assistance of USAID, the newly established coffee washing plant has stabilized the production of coffee and has facilitated exports to 15 countries. The newly established "full-washing" coffee processing plant also brings more than double the income of the previous "semi-washed" coffee processing plant. This initial success has also deepened the confidence of USAID and the Government of Rwanda and expanded 20 washing coffee plants in the country.

END