We work with 13 partners worldwide, from who we source our coffee. In Rwanda, we work together with Baho Coffee. On this page you can find everything you need to know about this collaboration.

THE

COUNTRY.

This origin has a special place in our hearts. It is an amazing country with so many contrasts: beautiful but scarred by its recent history, super green but struggling with soil fertility and climate change. Clean and safe but subdued because of the firm rule of the government. Rwanda is known as the country of a thousand hills and you can see why. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the region with a surface half of that of the Netherlands and more than 13 million residents. And they have amazing coffee that still remains on the fringes of the specialty coffee radar!

THE COFFEE.

Wakuli offers a natural arabica from our partners at the Kinazi washing station. Natural means the coffee is dried inside the cherry on drying beds - a rare offering in Rwanda. This method requires no water so it is in a way the most sustainable processing method available. This is especially important with water becoming more scarce all across the coffee producing world. It is one of our favourites. Great as an espresso and as filter coffee. In 2023 Wakuli took a first swing at the RoastMasters championship during the Amsterdam Coffee Festival and this was the coffee we chose. It’s full, it’s creamy, it has fruity funkyness: Strawberry milkshake. In 2024 it will be even more prominent in our offerings: apart from our Discover Monthly it is the basis of one of our coffee (candy) bars available online and in our stores. And keep your eyes open for our brand new cold brew cans that will also feature Rwanda!!

OUR

PARTNERSHIP.

We buy from the Kinazi washing station operated by Baho Coffee (our export partner in Rwanda). Kinazi is off the beaten track and the farmers in the area have lost a lot of trust in the coffee industry over the past years.. This washing station was run down, prices were low and farmers started ripping up their coffee plants to focus on cassava instead. Together with Baho, Wakuli is putting effort into revitalising coffee production in the area, because apart from keeping this unique profile around for a long time, we believe it is a good way to diversify and increase farmer income. Wakuli works with Baho and Kinazi to find ways of improving coffee quality - from improved washing station practices to working on soil and tree health. On top of that we co-fund new coffee plants to increase the coffee farmers can deliver to the washing station improving their income in the long run.

THE

CHANGEMAKER.

Let us introduce Emmanuel. He is a character. A true entrepreneur with a clear vision on where Rwanda as a coffee country should be heading. As a survivor of the genocide he became an orphan at a young age. He fought his way up in the industry working for the big companies before starting his own company called Baho Coffee. He owns, operates and collaborates with a number of washing stations across Rwanda with the goal of giving Rwandan coffee farmers the recognition they deserve.

SOME NUMBERS.

879

Farmers

2020

Partnership since

16.800

Total KGs sourced since start of partnership

OUR RWANDAN COFFEE

The coffee from Rwanda is available once a year as a Discover Monthly: a monthly rotating specialty coffee in our subscription offer. We sell all of the coffee straight after it comes in, super fresh with a short shelf time. After that another amazing Discover Monthly will be on offer. Our Rwanda coffee is truly one of our champions: it will also be available as a Micro Lot (special editions) in Q2, as one of our two Wakuli CoffeeBars, and as cold brew in one of our upcoming cold brew cans. Because coffee is a seasonal product in every producing country and logistics are sensitive to changes, the exact timing of the offer is hard to predict.