History of coffee in Rwanda, one of the largest coffee growers in the world. Introduction to small coffee farms.

Rwandan coffee has both a colorful history and an exhilarating taste of ​​. It is a rare and excellent coffee producing area.

But it is true that the history of coffee in Rwanda is not as long as we think, and the historical development of coffee in Rwanda can even be described as twists and turns. 、

The first coffee plants did not arrive in Rwanda until the early 20th century, but it took another 30 years for Rwandan coffee production to take off. At first, although there was quantity, there was still a lack of quality. The type of coffee beans grown in Rwanda is quite low, especially because of the stringent requirements of the colonial government before the country gained independence in the middle of this century.

Even after independence, the coffee industry was affected by the crises in both the coffee world and Rwanda in the 1990s. By the turn of the millennium, the coffee industry had collapsed.

Today, Rwanda is the ninth largest Arabica coffee producer in Africa, with about 450000 small farms with an average area of less than 1 hectare (about 165 coffee trees per coffee farmer), with a total coffee cultivation area of about 28000 hectares.

Coffee is more like a culture in African countries than we are used to in the West, and rituals and socializing are key components of any party. The industry values the value of its crops-hope ("Ikizere"), vision ("Ikerokoza"), Ishema ("pride")-to guide people on how to work together.

But instead of giving up the metaphorical ghost of coffee, farmers began to turn to the world of boutique coffee. The formulation of a national coffee strategy has reshaped their coffee industry. In the past 20 years, Rwanda has grown into one of the 30 largest coffee growers in the world. Today, Rwandan coffee exports generally amount to tens of millions of pounds a year-that is, when production is not disturbed by domestic problems. Most of these products come from small farms, not from larger coffee farms.

Most of the plantations in the country are quite high, usually between 4000 and 6500 feet above sea level. This provides a good high-altitude area for coffee plants and is very suitable for producing high-quality coffee beans. Of all these farms, 95% of coffee plants are not just Arabica coffee-they are the best varieties of Rwandan bourbon beans.

The local growing season usually begins in September or October and lasts until harvest between March and July. In these months, the harvest tends to peak in May.