Rwanda is one of the smallest coffee producing nations in the world, not just by surface area but also by volume, coming in at 31st place. However, over the past few years, it has made a tremendous effort to firmly establish itself as one of Africa’s finest producers of high quality specialty coffees.

We have already featured various outstanding Rwandan coffees in our previous coffee boxes, many of which had been brought to Europe by our close friend and partner Lennart Clerkx of This Side Up coffee. His boutique coffee importing business maintains close ties with key Rwandan partners and stands out for its transparency, commitment to quality and sustainable development efforts at origin.

Rwanda, as most people will know, experienced one of the worst genocides in human history in 1994, and it took the small nation a long time to get back on its feet. The story behind the coffee from Mokxa Torrefacteurs, who are making their debut in our November ’16 coffee box with a Rwandan coffee from Gitega similarly has a story that was gravely marked by the horrors of the genocide but has become a true inspiration for many small scale business owners in the region, in particular women.

Gitega is a collection point that collects coffees for local coffee producers, whose coffees are then delivered to Remera processing station, which is approximately 10km away. Remera is owned by Buf, a small operation founded in the year 2000 by Epiphanie Mukashyaka. Like many other women, Epiphanie became a widow following the murder of her husband and one of her children during the genocide.

Having to care for her remaining seven children, Epiphanie picked up her husband’s coffee production and decided to learn everything there was to know about coffee to create a sustainable livelihood for her family, getting a great deal of support from the USAID-financed PEARL project.

Epiphanie then set up Buf Coffee, and decided to build a washing station, with the help of the PEARL programme and loan from the Rwandan Development Bank. ‘I came up with the idea to build this,’ she says, ‘and nothing was going to stop me’.

Her aim was to transform local coffees from commodity to specialty and as a result, create more value for local coffee producers. Today, Buf operates various drop off points where farmers can drop off their output, get it weighed and instantly get paid. On certain days, Gitega receives between 1 and 5 tons of cherry a day, depending on the season.

Buf has played a vital role in transforming Rwandan coffee into world class coffee, and has repeatedly placed in the Cup of Excellence as a result.

We’re extremely excited to feature a delicious coffee from this inspiring origin, roasted by Lyon’s finest coffee roasters in our upcoming November ’16 box.

Keen to try it? Make sure you order your box before November 15th.

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*Please note, if you specifically want to receive this coffee, make sure to add this to your order note at check out.

Source: Melbourne Coffee Merchants