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Quest for beans


A Rwandan woman works her way down the coffee drying tables at the Kinunu washing station near Lake Kivu, Rwanda.
 (Simon Craven-Thompson / The Spokesman-Review)
Lorie Hutson and Simon Craven-Thompson The Spokesman-Review

It was horror that brought Rwanda into the eyes of the world 12 years ago. Now, Simon Craven-Thompson of Cravens Coffee sees something else – hope.

Craven-Thompson traveled to East Africa last month during the coffee harvest to find new sources of beans for his Spokane coffee roasting company. During the trip, he visited Rwanda to explore the emerging specialty coffee industry and attend the Third African Fine Coffee Conference in Tanzania.

“It took about six months to plan this trip because going into the interior of Rwanda is not something that Travelocity has on a Web site somewhere,” he said.

Working through an exporter who helps source some of Cravens’ African coffees, Thompson was able to find a guide to take him into the country’s interior to see some of the coffee cooperatives and new wet mills.

“We spent four days looking at coffee in these various regions… There is a purity to this coffee, especially when you dark roast it, that I don’t think I have ever tasted before,” Craven-Thompson said.

The specialty coffee industry has the chance to help the people in this part of the world through trade, rather that aid programs, Thompson said. Most of the coffee grown in Rwanda is bourbon (pronounced bor-bone), an original coffee strain that is highly sought right now.

“I loved the country. I loved the people. It was so interesting to me because the Rwandan people are very reserved, very polite, very formal… gentle, is the word I keep using to describe them, which is so bizarre because 12 years ago it was anything but a gentle environment there.”

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, almost a million people were murdered in 100 days by extremist militia groups.

Craven-Thompson kept a journal during his trip to East Africa and wrote up some of his notes from the trip to share. Here is his journal:

Day 1: In transit

This is what it means to travel coach class to East Africa: After back-to-back, nine-hour red-eyes, you feel like you’ve been run over by a coach.

Along the way, I read two and a half books and made friends with Moses Zube from Burundi, a small country south of Rwanda. Our chat continued over coffee and croissants in the rundown Kenya Airways transit lounge. We covered the usual light topics – African politics, American foreign policy, the recent riots in France. And the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It was the first of many such conversations, all entered into very carefully.

Day 2: Rwanda

I’m here for the coffee, of course. And I’m not far from its birthplace. The first cup was brewed in Ethiopia – before we learned to add water, people just ate the beans – and East Africa’s recovery from the atrocities of 1994 draws on that long legacy. What happened is beyond belief, but the country has taken giant strides toward recovery, achieving an astonishing level of safety and security in a remarkably short space of time.

Though Rwandan coffee has been forgotten for years – a shame because of its remarkable purity of flavor – two projects run by the United States Agency for International Development support the burgeoning specialty coffee industry here. PEARL forms farmer cooperatives to grow and mill beans in brand new washing stations, and ADAR brings in private investors to finance the industry as it grows.

ADAR coffee specialist Ephrem Niyonsaba and administrator Jean Mathieu Ntgaganda accompanied me to Lake Kivu via a “retail area” where I attempted to replace the belt I lost in security screening. Shopping gets done this way: tell a street tout what you’re after and within seconds young men will appear with the desired item, along with sunglasses, newspapers, flowers, watches and cameras. Just in case it slipped your mind.

Over beers at the Hotel Eden Rock, Ephrem drew circles on the table in the moisture from his glass and told me what it meant to be a Hutu during the genocide. “I was in the right tribe,” he said, able to survive by not being targeted and not being forced to participate.

Day 3: Rwanda

Ninety percent of the beans grown in Rwanda are bourbon, one of coffee’s original strains. In many countries, bourbon plants have been torn out to make way for higher-yield varietals, but I was thrilled to see so many have survived in Rwanda. The bourbon beans impart a real intensity, almost like tropical fruit juice. It’s truly great coffee in the cup.

We took a bone-jarring two-hour drive into the mountains to have a look at the bourbon plants and I also visited Gatare, home of the first Rwandan coffee Cravens ever purchased. Throughout East Africa, you’ll find some of the most character-filled coffees there are: exotic, pure, crisp, with a sweet, citrus quality.

Day 4: Rwanda

Twenty-five minutes across Lake Kivu lies the Kinunu washing station. Kanye Johnson, the ADAR technical adviser there, believes that in coffee, drying is everything.

He dries his beans for a total of 48 hours over several days, only exposing them to the sun between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. and then again after 3 p.m., when the breeze across the lake gently assists.

The industry’s awareness of the importance of drying has risen greatly in recent years. Properly done, drying adds sweetness to the brewed coffee. But when it’s done poorly, Kanye told me, there’s an onion or potato taste. That’s why his beans spend time in the shade, too.

Day 5: Rwanda

Kigali! Hot shower!

Day 6: Rwanda

A visit to the Genocide Memorial ended my visit on a sober note. People bring photos of family members lost in the genocide and hang them on strings with small pegs. It is a simple yet beautiful memorial.

Day 8: Tanzania

After a couple of days taking in Tanzania’s stunning scenery, I made my way to the Manyatta Coffee Estate along the Usa River. Owners Leon and Aideen Christianakis put me up in their two-room guest bungalow.

Day 10: Tanzania

I played hooky from the second day of the East Africa Fine Coffee Association conference to spend time with Leon, a smart choice, since he gave me an incredible education on coffee farming. I’ve always believed that an exceptional cup of coffee starts on the farm, and that’s why I love to get to know the growers.

Day 11: Tanzania

Alex Rechsteiner and his wife, Saskia, operate my next stop, the 650-acre Burka estate. When they took over, the worker camp was a nightmare. They added a kindergarten, medical facility, activity center and small grocery store. Specialty coffee really is changing lives here.

Day 12: In transit

It could be said that – with everything they have been through – Rwanda captures a piece of your heart, while Tanzania’s scenery, rich colors and floral aromas capture the senses. It was the trip of a lifetime and I loved it.

I would like to believe I’ll be back to Rwanda, and that in the meantime Cravens Coffee can help lift up this part of the world by supporting the specialty coffee industry – and bring something rare and wonderful to coffee-drinkers back home in the bargain.