Rwandan coffee is now a favorite in the specialty coffee industry, but that wasn’t always the case. At the turn of the century, the country’s industry had to restart, essentially from scratch. Due to both the civil war and the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989, their exports plummeted as the commodity market sought countries who could producer cheaper beans.
The Rwandan government made a choice to compete in a different market and invest in specialty coffee. Today, specialty coffee is a crucial part of the country’s economy, which has grown 7-8% per year since 2003. The recent repeal of the country’s zoning laws has led to an even greater boom. One washing station at the forefront of this change is Kilimbi Washing Station.
I spoke with Kenny Ntwali, our primary importer of Rwandan coffee. He spoke very highly of Kilimbi. It’s a beautiful facility, nestled between rolling green hills and a large lake. It opened in 2016 and placed in the Cup of Excellence in its first year of operation. They’re not just known for high quality though, they also have a good reputation among producers for high wages. According to Ntwali, they pay their station managers over double the average rate in the region.
Today, around 750 farmers bring their cherries to Kilimbi. This number of farmers to one station is common for the country, which has no large estates. In total, there are over 400,000 small holder farmers in the region, who each own less than a quarter hectare.
Photo courtesy of Higa Coffee Company
Natural Coffee in Rwanda
Kilimbi was also the first washing station in the country given the right to export natural processed coffee.
Why wasn’t natural coffee allowed for so long? The early days of the specialty coffee industry in Rwanda was a period of tight regulation from the government. The transition to move from “ordinary coffee” to fully washed, specialty grade coffee required a ton of upfront investment. According to Ntwali, most coffee farmers don’t have the education or resources to put up the capital for all the necessary equipment. A fully outfitted washing station can cost anywhere from $50k to $200k. Scaling up the coffee industry had to be a public investment.
During this period, the government was incredibly wary of station owners taking advantage of farmers. By only allowing them to export fully washed coffee, it was easier for the government to control prices and quality and to ensure that farmers were getting a good cut. When Kilimbi came on the scene, they made a pitch directly to the Rwandan government. They proactively proved that they weren’t going to take advantage of farmers. Plus, they demonstrated that natural processes could make Rwandan coffee more competitive overall.
Photo courtesy of Higa Coffee Company
Zoning Laws
Another saga in the story of Rwandan coffee has been the country’s zoning laws. While the government was still trying to incentivize the development of new washing stations, they implemented strict zoning regulations in 2016. This meant that farmers could only sell their cherries to washing stations in their zone. The reasoning was to ensure business for developers who may be wary of fronting the cost of a new station.
There’s much debate about whether this policy had any merit, but most Rwandan farmers seem to agree that it overstayed its welcome. Soon, the market became saturated with too many stations which weren’t operating at full capacity. Developers ran into situations where they were forced to build several stations in multiple zones, where one station could have handled all the demand itself. Ntwali said the policy “should have been repealed at least five years ago.”
The zoning laws were finally repealed in 2023, allowing farmers to sell their cherries to the highest bidder. The influx of competition meant that farmers were immediately getting higher prices for their cherries. From around RWF 500-600 per kilogram in 2023, to RWF 1,300 today. Needless to say, this has been incredible for farmers in the region.
New Release
This December, we’re releasing a naturally processed coffee from Kilimbi Washing Station. Even with the change in 2016, naturals are still a small percentage of the Rwandan coffee market, so this is truly something special. This is an incredible coffee, which features the raspberry-like acidity common to East African coffees, with a brown sugar sweetness. Being a natural, it has a syrupy body which makes the coffee all the more unique.
