Back in the colonial times after Rwandans were introduced to coffee, the Belgians used forced labour to make the citizens grow coffee for export.

From then, several generations of Rwandans have gone without drinking coffee.

For the longest time, coffee has remained out of reach and mind of most citizens and even when some people started drinking it, the majority of the population considered it a drink for only the upper-class of society.

“If you talk to some farmers, you’ll find that they believed that coffee was some sort of chemical compound used in bullets by the colonialists,” Gilbert Gatali, owner of one of Cafe Neo outlets, told a young audience during the first panel discussion that occurred at the Kigali Coffee Festival.

Other negative myths that are associated with coffee have to do with health issues such as hypertension, and insomnia.

However, the people drinking coffee is expanding from the elite in society to young people.
The first day of the newly initiated, Kigali Coffee Festival, began with local baristas being introduced to professional coffee preparation at the Kigali Cultural Village.

Organised by the National Agricultural Export Development Board in partnership with the Kigali Cultural village, the festival is part of the Cup of Excellence — the most prestigious competition and awardgiven to high quality coffee.

“We have realised that there are some gaps in terms of coffee preparation in different hotels and coffee shops in the country.
So, we thought that it would be important to award the best barista,” said Alexis Ndayisaba, communications specialist at National Agricultural Export Development Board.

Prior to the festival, other barista trainings took place in different districts around the country over the past two weeks. Three baristas from each province have been selected to come to Kigali to compete with each other.

In addition, the Kigali Coffee Festival seeks to change the mentality some people still have about coffee.

“We need to encourage people to drink coffee because it is grown locally and will increase the incomes of producers and farmers,” said Alexis Ndayisaba.

Currently, the average cost of a cup of coffee is Rwf2,000. However, as the number of coffee drinkers increases, coffee operators intend to reduce the price.

“As more people start to drink coffee, there is potential to lower the prices because you are able to maximise your profit margin,” said Mr Gatali.

Excellence cup

The Cup of Excellence usually awards the best farmer and the best co-operative in each country. But, together with coffee tasting, coffee workshops, coffee exhibitions and panel discussions, the festival also featured free trainings for baristas in order to bridge the gap in barista skills in the country.

“We have invited Alejandro Mendez, from El Salvador, in Central America who was voted the World’s Best Barista in 2011.

He is going to spend two days with the baristas to train and share with them knowledge about coffee preparation such as brewing, cupping and serving,” said Alexis Ndayisaba.

The award ceremony was to take place on August 9. The Best Barista will be awarded with a bottle of champagne made from coffee beans from Japan. The champagne is said to be worth around $2,000.