Rwandan coffee gets a ringing endorsement

The Rwandan coffee industry is hoping to export around 26,000 metric tonnes of coffee this year, bringing in around $75 million to the local economy. Hitting these self-imposed targets is always a tough task, but they hope to do so thanks to their relationship with Starbucks, the global coffee giants – a partnership which has recently received a glowing recommendation for the Seattle-based chain.

Starbucks’ Executive Vice President, Craig Russell, was in Kigali recently and spoke highly of Rwanda’s coffee. The salutations were certainly flowing as he spoke to the local press.

“I would rate Rwanda’s coffee as exceptional. [Starbucks] are always looking for coffee of exceptional quality and we love Rwandan coffee,” he said, adding that the company were ‘keen’ on increasing the amount of beans they buy from the East African nation.

“We are going to continue working in Rwanda with our farmer support services that we’ve had since 2008; we will continue to find and purchase more coffee each year, and evaluate the progress of the high quality coffee produced here.”

According to Geraldine Mukeshimana, the Agriculture Minister, Starbucks is expected to purchase upwards of 14,000 bags of coffee from Rwanda producers this term.

Starbucks has a decade long relationship with the country. They first started purchasing Rwandan coffee in 2004 before opening a dedicated intelligence and support center for farmers in a bid to increase both crop yield and crop quality.

Russell and a group of fellow coffee enthusiasts were visiting Rwanda as part of an ‘Origin Experience Program’ which sees high ranking executives visit different countries where their coffee is grown and processed.

This endorsement comes not long after the National Agriculture Export Development Board (NAEB) reassured farmers that buyers would be willing to spend their money on quality, not quantity.

If it’s good enough for Starbucks, you can rest assured that Rwandan coffee will be good enough for a lot of other traders out there!