The two tiny Central African countries of Burundi and Rwanda could practically be a geographical Venn diagram, despite the actual political border that separates them. Both are landlocked countries and among the smallest on the continent; and their cultural histories are both informed by the three ethnic groups they share, the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa people. If you visit a household in either country, you are likely to be welcomed in and served a plate of ugali, a porridge-like staple made from boiled cornmeal or flour with water or milk.
They are also both relatively remote compared to the rest of the coffee-producing world: Burundi has one of the lowest telephone densities on earth, while in Rwanda, roughly 13 out of every 100 people had access to the Internet as late as 2015. This last point is one of the reasons that visiting producers and export partners there is so significant, while also being one of the things that makes it hard to do so.
For all the similarities between them, however—including the simple fact that coffee is a primary source of foreign revenue for both—the two countries are distinct to us as origins despite very often getting lumped together in the same breath (or on the same coffee menu), with basically identical descriptors and a “general” regional profile that belies the diversity of profile and of process that exists in each.
Of course, since coffee is the main draw for us to these beautiful places, (and, we assume, for you as well), we’ll start there in this snapshot from origin. Green-coffee buyer Claudia Bellinzoni, whose focus is in sourcing African coffees for Cafe Imports, recently visited both countries to deepen existing relationships and seek new ones, cupping through type samples and microlot offerings in search of the best of what is on offer this year. While they share a relatively similar harvest season within the same “semester,” Rwanda’s and Burundi’s different topography and climate causes some variation: Rwanda’s season had ended a few weeks before Burundi’s, which was just about in full swing during early June.
“Where Rwanda is more like hills and volcanos and bamboo forests, in Burundi you have more mountains,” Claudia says, supposing that the higher altitudes in Burundi might slow the ripening of cherry there. They are also on very different prominent bodies of water, which will have climate and harvest implications as well: Rwanda on Lake Kivu, and Burundi on Tanganyika Lake, “which is a gem, it’s amazing,” she says. (Claudia also chuckles that, “In Burundi they say the source of the Nile is in Burundi, but in Rwanda they say it begins in Rwanda.”)
Because of this slight delay between the harvests, Claudia was cupping microlots in Rwanda but would have to wait a few weeks for the cream of Burundi’s crop. Still, she found plenty to feel excited about: In Rwanda, she was scoring between 87–90 on the table, saying, “I wrote many times ‘apricot,’ cherry, floral, sweet vanilla, coriander, orange or mandarin, very floral and very citrus. Spice like cinnamon, some honey, some caramel, and some tropical or dried fruit.”
“I cupped almost 30 cups, and they were averaging 88 points,” she says. “To be honest, I should have gone even higher. And that was cupped with bad water, because they use terrible water in Rwanda for cupping,” she laughs.
In Burundi, Claudia says, “These coffees were more delicate: Blueberries, floral again, jam, passionfruit, spices, and grapefruit is slightly more common.” She also tasted some of the bigger washing stations’ early lots, and found more chocolate, almonds, and walnuts in the profile—deeper, richer bass notes that will likely lighten up as the harvest goes farther and higher in elevation later in the month.
Even still, these coffees promise great things for this year’s offerings, and Claudia is understandably excited to return at the end of July to participate in the Cup of Excellence competitions, as an observer in the Burundi contest and on the jury for Rwanda.
The overall point of this trip for Claudia was naturally to taste and begin to select some coffees, but also to evaluate and strengthen our relationships with the producing and exporting partners we have in both countries. Cafe Imports has been buying in Burundi through one of the sogestals, networks of affiliated washing stations that are owned and operated through a combination of government and private funding, and which serve as collection and payment points for as many as several thousand small farmers each. (In both Burundi and Rwanda, many farmers grow very small amounts of coffee to sell in addition to their subsistence crops.) Sogestal Kayanza, our primary washing-station partner, has 21 mills under its management, 15 of which are government-owned. While the washing stations we work with primarily focus on specialty-coffee production, the others also process commercial lots.
The sheer number of producers and stations of course can make communication somewhat complicated, among other reasons. “They don’t really work on computers or phones,” Claudia says. “You have to have a personal relationship. I think it’s the most difficult origin I have, but it’s very beautiful.”
On the other hand, in terms of development, Claudia says neighboring Rwanda “has been growing really fast economically. Every year its’ growing and growing. When you go to Kigali, the city is really clean—much, much cleaner than Berlin, for example!” In Rwanda, Claudia visited our partners at COOPAC, a cooperative organization that was founded by just over 100 coffee farmers in 2001, and which has grown to be one of the most recognizable associations in the country with more than 8,000 contributing members and a dedicated full-time staff who runs the cooperative efficiently and transparently.
One day during her visit, Claudia was asked to speak in front of about 1,000 farmers at one of the washing stations—which came as a bit of a surprise. “I didn’t know I was going to make a speech, so I talked openly and said that we are very honored to work with them, and what they are doing is incredibly precious to us. What they are doing for the coffee industry is enormous, and we want to thank them. We understand that things can be very difficult, but they are facing those challenges and producing some of the best coffees in the world.” She said the producers seemed pleased with her thoughts—so much so that they actually made her dance along with the traditional dancers in a welcome and thank-you ceremony at the washing station! “I didn’t take any video of me dancing,” she laughs.
One thing that these countries do share, which we would be remiss to ignore, is the struggle with so-called “potato defect,” a specific condition which affects coffees from Rwanda, Burundi, and to a lesser degree Democratic Republic of Congo. While the defect has been recognized for years, there is still some question about what precisely is to blame: Bacteria, fungus, insect, mold, processing taints—everything anybody can think of.
“Rwanda is obsessed with potato defect and they are doing so much research,” Claudia reports. “The theory that is popular now is that it’s an insect that comes, eats a hole in the cherry and the parchment, and then releases some poison—like a mosquito when it bites you—that causes the potato flavor. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it’s an insect, I’ve heard it many times. But no one can say 100-percent sure.”
While all of our partners are concerned with potato, Claudia says that COOPAC is being the most proactive when it comes to trying to snuff out the problem. “How they are avoiding it is with hand-picking,” she says. “They showed me the beans with the hole, how they pick them and set them aside—they told me these are the ones with which develop the potato.”
One other logistical challenge that contributes to the fact that these coffees are worth the wait every year is that they are purchased FOT from origin rather than FOB, or Free on Board, as most other coffees are. FOT stands for “Free on Truck,” which means that the coffee needs to be transferred to an ocean port first by ground transport, a cost and a risk that is absorbed by the purchases—in this case, the importer, us. Both Rwanda and Burundi’s coffees need to be driven to Tanzania for containerization, a long trip that can spell peril if there are environmental obstacles, motor breakdowns, or delays along the road, or any number of other variables. Thankfully, in most cases our export partners are able to coordinate relatively painless shipments and deliveries with our international logistics team, and perhaps the element of suspense while tracking the over-land journey is part of what makes the cups taste so sweet when they arrive safely in our warehouse!
The distance and the difficulties in sourcing from Rwanda and Burundi doesn’t change or even challenge the fundamental appeal that these countries have for us as coffee-producing partners, Claudia says: “They are magical places.” She was practically glowing talking about the coffees themselves and, of course, the wonderful people who grow and process them. “We are going in the direction of even more sustainability and projects with the farmers,” she says excitedly—the promise of ever better and brighter things to come from Central Africa.
Coffees from Burundi and Rwanda are still being harvested now, and the countries are also preparing for their Cup of Excellence competitions—Rwanda’s international jury panel begins on July 20, and Burundi begins on August 7. Stay close for details about what lots we’re bringing in from both countries this year, and for early opportunities to book forward into yours soon.