This May we welcomed guests coffees from Cameroon and Rwanda.
Both are exquisite coffees with hints of citrus, chocolate, hazelnut, orange and blackcurrant.
We are pleased to bring both these coffees to you and, this rare Cameroonian coffee from the Northwest region and the Rwandan coffee from a women’s co-operative with an incredible story.
Momo - Cameroon
Cameroon is often known as "Africa in miniature" because of its geographical and cultural diversity, The country was once the 12th largest coffee producer in the world, but now sits in 31st place, after production sank from 156,000 tons in 1990 to around 25,000 today. While exports still dominate, Cameroon is working on growing domestic coffee consumption to help boost its production.
The government is supporting the revival of its coffee sector and one way its doing that is through promoting Cameroonian coffee locally to boost production through an annual coffee festival in Yaoundé (spelt Yaunde) the capital city.
Momo region is the gateway to the beautiful North West Region of Cameroon, located 128 km from the capital city Yaounde . It is located 1750M above sea level with a total population under 140,000 people. The region produces principally arabica coffee. Other crops that do well in this area are assorted vegetables, potatoes and maize, kola nut, tea and tobacco.
The farmers in this region are members of the North West Cooperative Association a farmer organisation comprising of over 35,000 members situated across the North West Region of Cameroon. One thing to note is that compared to many co-operatives in other regions across the country which have disbanded over time.
For many farmers coffee is their major source of cash income , the fertile soils of this region favours agricultural activities thereby giving rise to many cooperatives and is the largest producer of Arabica coffee in the country due to its perfect climatic conditions and mountainous terrain.
Read more about Cameroon on last months article, why Africa should be on your bucket list.
Rwanda - BUF
‘Buf’ derives from Bufundo, the former name of the region where its washing stations are located.
This months coffee was processed at Buf Coffee Remera washing station. Located at 1,935M above sea level in Southern Rwanda.
Buf coffee was founded in 2003 by Epiphanie Mukashyaka, a widow of the Rwandan genocide and civil war of 1994. Epiphanie needed to raise her seven children and took over her husbands farm with little farming knowledge and not only made it a success over time but she has also now built four washing stations and two dry mills which process coffee cherries from as many as 7000 small farms in the Bufundo region. It has been a long hard road with many pitfalls but the courage and resilience Epiphanie has shown has benefited many women farmers in Rwanda.
Epiphanie is an incredible businesswoman and a source of inspiration to countless other female entrepreneurs in Rwanda’s coffee sector as the first woman to produce specialty coffee in Rwanda and has used that knowledge to train and develop her fellow Rwandan farmers through her newly formed company.
Buf is now managed by Epiphanie and her son, Samuel and two daughters, who have taken an active role in running and expanding the business which has benefited the community within this province in Economic, health and education development.
Her coffee has won numerous awards and is widely regarded as one of the best coffee originating from Rwanda. Epiphanie we congratulate you and on your achievements and for the great coffee our customers get to enjoy.
Look out for next months coffee regions.
Asante.