Rwanda has made incredible progress in the last 32 years. The entire nation was devastated during the Rwandan civil war, which culminated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The eyes of the world turned to Rwanda in its wake, and in the years since, Rwandans have created a nation in their own image, working towards peace and reconciliation amongst themselves while opening up their country and inviting others in.
Everything had to be rebuilt after 1994, including the country’s economy and, by extension, its coffee industry. Local leaders and global supporters—including successful coffee industry development through the work of USAID—have worked in tandem across the last three decades, with the end result being a thriving coffee cultivation and production sector. Rwandan coffee often grows at high elevation, on the lush hills and in the rich volcanic soil indigenous to the country. Most of this coffee is of the Arabica variety, typically Red Bourbon or Yellow Bourbon, both known for their high quality, natural sweetness, and fruity acidity. As may as 450,000 smallholder families cultivate coffee today across the small nation of Rwanda, which is densely populated despite being geographically small (it’s the size of the the state of Vermont).
Coffee is an increasingly important part of the Rwandan national identity, and today’s new generation of residents in Kigali, the nation’s capital, are creating a fresh cafe scene full of innovation and experimentation. Global influences are part of the equation, but these cafes are also distinctly Rwandan, and I think it serves as a microcosm of the country’s progress in many other sectors—environmental conservation, gender equity, and economic infrastructure.
The coffee baristas and professionals I met during my stay not only serve specialty coffee, they are also passionate about their craft and work hard to show people with transparency where their coffee comes from and what it takes to get it from the farm to their cup. Let’s visit some of the very best.
Rubia Coffee Roasters
Rubia Coffee Roasters is one of Kigali’s staple establishments for specialty coffee. It was a cloudy afternoon the first day I visited, and rain soon coated every surface of Rubia’s leafy courtyard. I sheltered inside, warmed by the shelf of books, the sepia toned portraits lining one wall, and the jazz playing at a comfortable volume overhead.
The espresso I ordered had character, attitude even, as distinct and citrusy as lemon zest. I took a salad to go and returned two more times over the course of my stay.
The next time, I had a standout pour-over, which was light in body and tasted of dark chocolate and dark berries. When I asked the barista how he made it, he generously explained the roast (medium) as well as the kind of processing (natural); he took the time to grind different beans to show me how various processes could yield complexity in aroma.
Founded by Mathias Kalisa, Rubia’s mission is “to promote a coffee culture at origin by roast.” The cafe has been incredibly influential on Rwanda’s coffee scene not only in bringing Rwandan coffee to the world, but also inspiring Rwandans to a greater love and appreciation for their own coffee.
Kivu Noir
Kivu Noir inspired me to think of baristas as craftspeople; the ones I met spoke about coffee as if it were both an art and science. They talked about developing drinks with Rwandans in mind, given the cultural significance of cow’s milk and the tendency towards tea and sweeter drinks.
Of the mixed drinks I tried, the rosemary latte and iced cascara spritz shone; I also sampled the incredible range of flavor profiles in Kivu Noir coffees through a cupping session. The baristas who guided the session were experts and radiated joy, making our time fun and memorable.
Kivu Noir has two locations, with its flagship cafe being in the Kimihurura area and the other located in Norrsken House, a coworking space for social entrepreneurs in Kigali’s Central Business District.
The Kimihurura cafe is spacious and well-designed, modern and clean lined, with ample outdoor green space. It features a cocktail bar and operates a full kitchen during the day, offering brunchy cafe fare, and partners with its sister restaurant ruӓ in the evening to offer tapas and dinner.
Caferwa, Kivu Noir’s parent company, was established in 1995 to support genocide survivors and operates five farms around the country that supply its cafes and export ventures with specialty coffee.
Question Coffee
Question Coffee is a social enterprise established by Sustainable Harvest, with investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The enterprise reinvests proceeds from sales into training women farmers across Rwanda—this focus is clear from the moment you walk into the cafe, with a sign that reads “powered by over 40,000 Rwandan women coffee farmers.”
Question Coffee has two Kigali locations, one in Gishushu and the other in Kiyovu, both with green spaces and room to work, chat, or simply enjoy the view as the smell of coffee wafts from the onsite roastery. Here you can customize your coffee by choosing a particular blend and pairing it with your desired brewing process. Each blend has its own tasting wheel, so you can go by the tasting notes you prefer.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Question Everything blend, with its dark chocolate, hazelnut, brown sugar, and orange tasting notes. I also appreciated the cafe’s nearly singular focus on coffee; food options are limited to only a few pastries.
Question Coffee offers a Specialty Coffee Masterclass, where guests pick coffee cherries straight from the garden and follow the process “from seed to cup, including smelling, tasting and making your very own coffee blend that you can take home.”
OneCup CoffeeHouse & Lounge
The baristas and enthusiasts I met at OneCup CoffeeHouse & Lounge know their craft and want to share it with Rwandans and the world. One staff member explained how Kigali’s coffee scene has changed over time, even within the last decade, as cafes have propagated coffee culture so that more Rwandans are enjoying coffee—“The same coffee we export,” this staff proudly claimed, “is the coffee we serve here.”
I sampled and enjoyed a number of drinks over a few visits: the espresso I ordered had a smooth aftertaste, the mocha was well-balanced, and the V60 was light-bodied and tart. The cafe also packages and sells coffee through its parent company, G-Step, which works directly with farmers, many of them women, to secure fair trade deals.
OneCup offers its own unique coffee experience which, in addition to cupping, allows guests to roast and brew coffee using traditional practices common to east and central Africa. The cafe toes the line between day and night, as people come with their laptops and lunch plans during the day, and stay for more loungey vibes as the sun dips into the hills.
Indabo Café
I made my way to Indabo Café through a leafy sea of trees and potted plants. In contrast with its modernist design, there was a playfulness there. The Kiyovu branch has a treehouse and a set of swings, and shares its compound with an art gallery and craft boutique, while the Kimihurura branch shares its compound with a dog park and interior design boutique.
Like many restaurants and cafes I observed in Kigali, Indabo is more outdoor than indoor, allowing cafegoers to enjoy a sunny day under some shade, with a side of uninhibited birdsong, or a perfect cloudy day with outdoor curtains in case of rain.
Indabo’s menu is primarily western and mediterranean with good vegetarian options; the cafe also serves cocktails and a variety of black and mixed coffee drinks.
The Kula Fellowship supplies Indabo with its coffee. Kula provides agronomy training and entrepreneurship coaching to help coffee farmers increase their harvest and income so they can move out of extreme poverty. To that end, Kula Fellows averagely experience a 96% increase in their coffee harvest and a 203% increase in their income within one year of graduating from the fellowship.
Golden Coffee Roastery
The hints of Ethiopian culture at this cafe were apparent to me, as an Ethiopian, as soon as I walked in: the slight but heavily coded nod of recognition and “Selam” from the manager, the Ethio-jazz playing over the speakers, the chechebsa for breakfast, the Yirgacheffe coffee.
Golden Coffee Roastery occupies a spacious compound, in a house that made me feel like maybe I was just going to the neighbors’ for coffee. This is the cafe’s first location in Rwanda, after being founded in Addis Ababa, in Bole Rwanda—a neighborhood aptly named after the Rwandan embassy located there.
Golden Coffee typically serves Rwandan coffee throughout the week and on certain days, spotlights other origins (Ethiopian, Kenyan, Burundian, etc.). I had an African coffee while there, a milky brew with hints of ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom, which reminded me of a Swahili coffee I’d had one misty morning in Old Town Mombasa.
The existence of this and many other immigrant-owned businesses is characteristic of Rwanda’s embrace of open commerce and foreign investment. One person I spoke with during my travels said, “Rwandans are open to immigrants and refugees because they were in the same position not long ago. They know what it’s like.”
Tidenek Haileselassie is a freelance journalist based in Addis Ababa. Read more Tidenek Haileselassie for Sprudge.
