Visiting Rwanda with Caffé Praego and Rwacof

Working with coffee is more than just business for Ringtons. We take sourcing our beans seriously. That’s why, when the right situations call for it, we make sure to visit the source of all our coffee. Not only does this mean we can learn more and further understand supply chains, but also that we can connect with our suppliers on a more personal level and make sure we’re working with the right organisations to meet our own sustainability goals.

In May 2023 we visited Rwanda in relation to our work with Caffé Praego. We spent time visiting project sites that are funded by The Point Foundation, exploring supply chains put in place by Rwacof and learning more about Rwacof’s operations across Rwanda.

As the final part of our experience in Rwanda, we provided Caffé Praego with a sourcing direction for 2023 and 2024, meaning they had marketable, useful recommendations to move forward with.

Who are Caffé Praego?

Caffé Praego were founded in 2011 as a way for founder Charles Trace to merge his passions for coffee and philanthropy. As a business, they focus on providing quality coffee that tastes great, supports farmers and creates lasting change to communities in Rwanda. As well as providing coffee to their hotel, restaurant and café customers, their charitable work with Rwacof and The Point Foundation means they are using coffee as a source of good to better the lives of farmers across Rwanda.

These charitable roots are part of the reason why it was important to visit Rwanda – Caffé Praego donate around £3 from the sale price of every case of coffee to The Point Foundation, and in order to further support the coffee growing communities, they ensure their coffee is Rwandan sourced and grown.

With a desire for increased traceability in the supply chain and the need for a blend match that gave the highest quality flavour and experience, Caffé Praego had a lot of expectations, and we wanted to find the perfect match. By travelling out to Rwanda, we were able to spend time defining qualities of different Rwandan coffees and finding the best coffee washing stations, giving them confidence in their supply chain and discovering the best flavours for their business.

(Pictured below: Sadie at Nyamyumba)

Who are Rwacof?

Rwacof are the sister company of coffee merchant Sucafina, and operate 30 coffee washing stations across Rwanda. Almost all of these are located around Lake Kivu. They champion excellent quality control and processing methods, and out of season they also support their seasonal workers with training, financial development and sustainability.

As a passionate gender rights advocate, Rwacof also support women across Rwanda to advance economically, helping them invest in their land to grow their business. Offering financial assistance to women’s cooperatives such as Ituze, they help women to support themselves.

In addition, Rwacof is working hard on water use and composting across its washing stations. Each washing station we visited had a program of water cleaning in place to ensure that water used for washing coffee can be reused. Additionally, they are working on composting programs using discarded cherry skins to enable washing stations to provide organic fertilisers to their farmers, free of charge. 

A big problem in Rwandan coffee farming relates to the age of trees on farms. Many trees are approaching 30 years old, producing small yields. However, as farmers receive so little for their work, they’re reluctant to regenerate their land. It’s expensive and leads to a loss of income in the short term. Rwacof are working on a program to encourage farmers to prune their trees and replace old trees with new Rab C-15 varieties, which are hardier and higher yielding than Bourbon trees.

Who is The Point Foundation?

The Point Foundation, another charitable organisation established in Rwanda, focus on providing for children in the area. Also founded by Charles Trace, and his partner Karen, it aims to further care and education for orphans and children with disabilities across the country. The Point Foundation offers a variety of training programs and have several project spaces, including the Ubumwe Community Centre and Germaine’s Nursery School. It also supports the Izere Centre in Kigali, which provides essential therapy and education for children with profound disabilities, as well as paying for educational scholarships for school pupils and university graduates. And there’s a sponsorship program for trainees to undertake work with the Integrated Barista Training Centre (IBTC).

Providing vocational training, children and young people are taught valuable skills to help them begin earning for themselves and their families – from sewing and crafts to cooking and farming.

The Point Foundation’s work is funded in a variety of ways, including long term donors, corporate sponsorship and, mainly, from Caffé Praego. Their donations to the Point Foundation mean it is able to operate stably and continue with its dedicated work in Rwanda.

(Pictured below: Sewing lessons are taught in schools built by The Point Foundation.

Second image: Culinary classes will soon be taught by trained chefs in the brand new kitchen at Mwogo school.)

Sponsorship with the IBTC

The IBTC is run by Perpetue Mukamusinga, the first female barista in Rwanda. She holds SCA Professional certificates in all five disciplines, and now spends her time teaching both SCA modules and local certifications to young people training to be baristas. This means Perpetue has been devoted to not only producing speciality coffee at an international standard, but has also been educating more people into the world of making coffee better for everyone.

As costs rise to train, The Point Foundation have sponsored several individuals through the program. Many of these trainees have gone on to work in hotels, restaurants and cafes across the country.

(Pictured below: Perpetue (left) supports a student in the process of cupping – learning to evaluate coffee through its aromas and tastes.)

Why did we visit Rwanda?

Aside from learning more about Caffé Praego and the work they support in Rwanda, visiting allowed us to discover even more about how important sustainable sourcing is in origin countries. During our time there, we were able to get hands-on with Rwacof and The Point Foundation to understand just how important the work they do is.

Finding out how these organisations are supporting farmers meant we were able to better understand the importance of amazing coffee at Caffé Praego, and the importance of supporting sustainable farming across the world. We were able to understand more about the areas in which Caffé Praego are making a real difference to Rwandan communities, and could work to help them do the right things to continue on their ambitious path for change.

Lastly, there was the not-so-small task of finding the perfect supply chain for Caffé Praego. Looking to find a new supplier for their star coffee, finding the right match for producing the right volumes of roasted coffee was quite the undertaking. We had a specific set of criteria to work with and wanted to make sure we could align with Caffé Praego’s ethics and sustainability goals, as well as providing improved consistency, traceability and flavour.

Discovering Rwandan coffee

Learning more about the incredible organisations changing the Rwandan coffee landscape was only part of the job while we visited Rwanda. In order to ensure we could make the best recommendations for sourcing, our green coffee buyer Sadie spent plenty of time learning more about the different coffee washing stations, processing facilities and all the coffee made as a finished product.

Through this, she was able to produce solid recommendations of blends of coffee that would provide the right taste, quality and price point for Caffé Praego, as well as considering the production process end-to-end to ensure the needs of the customer would be met for the level of demand they experience and the ethics they aspire to.

Growing and sourcing beans

By visiting a variety of facilities across Rwanda, Sadie explored regional differences in coffee production. This included examining their processing facilities, the ways in which they grade and separate their beans and the level of traceability offered to the customer.

Taste

Tasting delicious coffee is always a pleasure, but we take flavours very seriously when we’re looking for quality. By examining each cup of coffee produced for flavour profiles, aromas and profiles, we made sure we had a full understanding of each different cup.

Price

Budget is always a key point of consideration when finding a new supplier for a customer. Working with Caffé Praego’s budget in mind, we looked into the different options available, from commercial grade coffee right the way through to microlots and high-end speciality brews.

Future sustainability projects

Sustainability is always front of mind when we look into coffee supply. By doing the right thing for the customer, the supplier and the planet, we can feel positive that what we recommend will make a positive impact on the world around us.

During our trip, we discussed a variety of potential sustainability projects that Caffé Praego could get involved with alongside Rwacof. Not only would this further their mission as a company; it could also help maximise the impact of their work in the area they choose to supply from.

Some of these included:

• Tree regeneration projects, including planting new trees
• Assisting in financing agronomist support and farming training
• Supporting gender projects
• Supporting organic conversion schemes across the region

These projects aren’t necessarily something that would change the taste profile of the coffee Caffé Praego use, but they do offer a way to further engage and support Rwandan communities. And by learning about these opportunities, we’re also able to get a stronger view of the general landscape of Rwanda, and all the things they’re doing to build up their people.

Summary

Going the extra mile to visit Rwanda with Caffé Praego and Rwacof was a wonderful way to dive deeper into the world of Rwandan coffee. It gave us the chance to really understand the ethical goals that Caffé Praego hold close to their core, and we were able to provide even stronger recommendations for sourcing direction. Considering geographical, sustainability and socio-economic factors, as well as flavour profiles and price points, we were able to provide Caffé Praego with a strong direction for 2024 and beyond.

Read more about our work with Caffé Praego in our case study. And if you’re looking to switch up your supply chain, or just want a helping hand in finding a sustainable, delicious and affordable cup of coffee for your business, give us a ring. We’d love to help.