A typical coffeekult breakfast table looks like the one in the photo. DAY THREE also starts like this:
The coffee comes from the country we are in right now: Rwanda, in the heart of Africa!
No – we are never “disrespectful” and do not want to offer any affront to the hotel or somehow try to instruct. Of course, we always ask if it is OK.
Why does coffeekult do this?
What could be better for a roaster than to enjoy his own roasted and refined coffee exactly where the green coffee comes from? You can’t get any closer to a country in terms of coffee, and you can’t pay more respect and honor to the coffee farmers in the country.
We start the day with an almost 4-hour journey on a well-developed road. We’re heading to the world-famous Lake Kivu. The rich and volcanic soil in this region has allowed a very special Arabica variety to thrive.
Coffee has a long tradition in the country, but unfortunately only in cultivation and sales, not in consumption. This is the case in many of the coffee-producing countries.
However, the specialty coffee trend is gaining momentum in Rwanda, and you come across small cafes unexpectedly and completely surprisingly.
A friend of Josias runs this small “coffeehouse chain” Stafford Coffee with great attention to detail and Western standards. For coffeekult, this is one of the many essential stops, as it allows us to keep you updated everywhere. Enjoying excellent Rwandan coffee, we’re sharing many stories and posts on our Social Media channels.
We continue to Kibuye on Lake Kivu. It seems as if you suddenly enter a different country: while Kigali and its surroundings are already very fertile and green, here the vegetation becomes even more diverse and vibrant. Banana trees and tropical plants line the paths and bloom in the fields. The sight of Lake Kivu leaves one almost speechless, and what a surprise – coffeekult goes on a BOAT!
Leaving the car behind, we board a rather fancy motorboat for a leisurely and contemplative 40-minute ride across the lake. (Quite different from the later journey in the evening, but more on that later.)
The border of the Democratic Republic of Congo runs right through the middle of the lake. We’re told that the locals here have a good relationship with their neighbors and that people living here can cross this international boundary in the water quite easily.
FINALLY, coffeekult has reached the pinnacle of its Rwanda journey: right at the cooperatives that supply us with the raw coffee beans for our coffeekult coffee from RWANDA. This is where the heart beats faster and especially harder! The feeling here at the Coocamu Cooperative, led by its director Josias and with its beans brought to Austria by Immaculee, is one of finally being at home.
Real COFFEE-LIFE is happening here, always and everywhere: coffee beans are being sorted, some are drying on the raised beds….
Admittedly, our own description and narrative in the blog stumble a bit here, as the right words for feelings and emotions have simply not yet been born, leaving us somewhat speechless….
We are just overwhelmed and in awe!
And again a coffeekult MAGIC MOMENT.
Our coffee roast from Rwanda is now FIRST drunk by those farmers who otherwise “only” collect the coffee beans and then resell them through the cooperative. People in Rwanda actually drink quite little coffee, the beans are used more as a means to an end, because you can do business with it.
coffeekult, however, would like to offer the farmers exactly that opportunity to finally taste their refined product themselves. For us, this is an incredibly exciting opportunity and a great honor!
Quickly boil water, grind a few beans and then prepare in the French Press AND TASTE. For most farmers, this is their first time drinking their own coffee. We are touched and grateful! What a special moment.
Coffeekult says: Urakoze cyane/ MANY THANKS you dear farmers for the great product!
Warmth, gratitude, Rwanda!
We are immediately accepted into the coffee family with a meal prepared especially for us, a wonderful cook on the cooperative! Rice, beans, potatoes, beef and the kiwi lake fish so well known here. Love goes through the stomach, we can confirm!
Afterwards, we will visit the Coocamu cooperative, the place where the farmers bring their green coffee cherries, the original product of every coffee. Coffee is omnipresent here: we find fresh coffee cherry peels, which turn completely black and are used as valuable fertilizer for coffee plants and banana trees.
During manual sorting in the basin, the unripe beans are separated from the ripe ones by hand, and next door the qualities are carefully separated. The coffee beans are dried on the raised beds, but as soon as the rain comes – as it did on this day – they are immediately covered again, well protected.
Out oft he DARK!
How fast time flies!
Everyone knows that: if you get carried away, you just can’t get away. This can also happen to coffeekult! But it must also be said that it gets dark in Rwanda already at 6 pm.
Happy, strengthened and full of impressions it goes OUT OF THE DARK in the dark and with cell phone flashlights and headlights back to Lake Kivu.
There begins a daring wave ride: Also in the dark, completely without light, we are taken to the apartment by a boatman, the wild ride lasting about an hour. Like Tyroleans – proverbially – with “skis on their feet,” people here come into the world almost “swimming,” we are told. Even the little ones can drive boats, navigating in the dark and then finding their way home almost blindly!
A little surprising, however, was the wild storm, whipping water, an extremely swaying boat… even the local among us said it hadn’t been entirely safe… but that’s another story – and we don’t want to bore anyone with non-coffee topics 🙂
TOMORROW on DAY 4 we will go over hill and dale. We will visit the farmers on their fields and in their huts. Above all, we also want to show them our appreciation. They are the ones who are at the very beginning of every cup of coffee.
