Five Senses Coffee Blog

Rwandan COE winners announced

Wow, what an awesome awards ceremony! I took a brief video of the hundreds of farmers singing in union to ‘welcome’ the ceremony. It was an exciting and memorable moment in my coffee career as we sat in the front row and heard our names called out individually to be recognised for our contribution to the competition, in front of a sea of Rwandan farmers. We have arguably the easiest job and I’m sure every jury member saw it as a privilege and an opportunity to connect with the growers.

Rwanda is made up of small lots of farmers, some growing tiny amounts of coffee, which makes the COE competition here unique and, in some ways, a little more challenging. It’s up to the farmers, co-ops or washing stations to combine and submit their lots, with the challenge being to ensure consistency. The samples are cupped so many times that inconsistent lots often don’t make it to the top. Winning lots can come from as few as 10 farmers or as many as 100. What this means is that some winners may not strike it rich, but they will certainly have some extra disposable income which will allow them to make some small choices that will benefit their livelihood. Maybe a goat, maybe a cow … in some ways, it seems like the COE in Rwanda will be very far reaching for that exact reason.

Winners can be seen here.

I’ve made my way to Tanzania and am currently in the small town of Moshi, near Mount Kilimanjaro. I’ve spent the last two days at Let’s Talk Coffee Africa. There’s a large representation of farmers from East Africa and it’s been very interesting listening to them voicing their concerns and discussing important issues that affect their livelihood as producers in developing countries. I am sitting tight, listening and learning, while sipping on an espresso prepared by Ishan (South African Barista Champ) and Soren (Danish Barista Champ and number five in the world).  Tomorrow we head to the farms … and then I fly home in the evening.