East African Business Week (Kampala)
Bosco Hitimana
16 August 2008
Kigali — offees produced within Rwanda are under a serious scrutiny to select the best coffees that meet the international coffee quality standards.
Dubbed the "Cup of Excellence", the competition seeks to select the very best coffees produced in Rwanda that meet the international coffee quality standards.
These coffees are perfectly ripe, carefully picked with well developed body, pleasant aroma and a lively sweetness that only extremely high quality specialty coffees retain.
Each winning coffee has its own flavour signature from the earth where it grows and all have been handcrafted in such a way as to enhance these unique characteristics.
The winning coffees are chosen by a select group of national and international cuppers and are cupped at least five different times during the competition process.
The international jury is composed of the renowned tasters and cuppers from coffee roasting and importing companies from America, Europe and Asia.
The final winning coffees will be awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence and sold to the highest bidder during an internet auction.
Rwanda is hosting this competition for the first time in particular and Africa in general.
The Cup of Excellence Competition started in Brazil in 1999.
The director general of Rwanda Coffee Development Authority (OCIR-CAFÉ), Mr. Alex Kanyakole said that Rwanda was chosen to host the event because of it's commitment to produce high quality specialty coffee.
"The sector strategy is to build on quality not volumes. Our country is not so big to produce big volumes of coffee like Brazil," Kanyankole added.
The tasters and cuppers were selected from coffee roasting and importing companies which are the targeted market for Rwandan coffee exporters.
Rwanda is the seventh country in the world to host such a high profile event after the founder Brazil that followed by Colombia, Costa Rica, and El-Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Mid last month, a total of 207 samples of Rwandan coffees were received from farmers' cooperatives and coffee washing stations to compete in pre-selections, an exercise that took place in Coffee cupping laboratory in Huye district, Southern Rwanda.
A team of about 15 selected tasters and cuppers with guidance of a cupping expert from Alliance for Coffee Excellence conducted the exercise in which 125 qualified for the next level.
Rwanda exports about 50% of its coffee production to Europe, 40% to America and the rest to Asia-Japan and China.
This year, the sector is expected to earn $50million from 25,000 tonnes.
At least 10,000 tonnes have so far been sold and earned $15million.
By 2012, the sector projects to earn $100million from at least 35,000 fully washed tonnes of coffee.
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