Five Senses Coffee Blog

Cocktail party in Rwanda

The night before the competition starts, the organisers host an outdoor cocktail party to give the national jurors, volunteers, organisers and international jury a chance to mingle. You wouldn’t know it, but for many Rwandans, English is their third language, making communication easy and my French (their second language) handy to have. During the brief speeches, we hear what an impact the previous 2008 COE had on Rwanda, with approximately USD$450,000 paid for 25,000 lbs of coffee. There’s definitely a sense of excitement in the air.

The next day we get stuck into the first real competition cupping and we can’t wait to see what’s on the table. All the Rwandan volunteers, many from the national jury, are doing an excellent job coordinating a large number of cupping tables to make sure they are all set up perfectly and that hot water is available as soon as it’s needed.

Lots of interesting coffees and very few potato defects (a bacterial infection found specifically in Rwandan coffees). As of now, only two coffees have been disqualified because of the infection. Some of us are betting that the very first coffee we tasted will make it all the way to number 1, as a number of us scored it over 90 on the first round.

There are lots of kids around, all of whom are interested in the bus load of internationals driving around their small town.  The kids love getting their picture taken and after a while the guards shoo us off — nicely! Kids are great as their photos tend to connect with people around the world. They are happy, playful and inquisitive little beauties.

We are now getting ready for day two … cupping in the morning and visiting washing stations in the afternoon.

More to come …

Kids of Rwanda