About This Coffee
Twongere Umusaruro, or TUK for short, is an emerging women's cooperative developed out of a partnership with Sustainable Harvest and Bloomberg Philanthropies aiming to help Rwandan women develop their coffee farms by deepening their training in agronomy and quality-control.
Support from this effort has allowed TUK to make large orders of GrainPro bags to store their harvest and provided all of their members with health insurance. This is invaluable for these producers.
In 2013, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Sustainable Harvest® formed a partnership to create the nonprofit Relationship Coffee Institute in order to deliver training in agronomy, market access, and quality control to the farmers of Twongere Umusaruro. The results were transformative: Between 2013 and 2015, the cooperative’s members increased their monthly income from coffee by 194 percent and their yield per coffee tree by 187 percent. (The latter statistic is an apt one, as the cooperative’s name translates to “Increase Production”).
A key factor in Twongere Umusaruro’s increased income was the 2014 construction of its washing station: There the co-op could process its coffee before export, allowing it to control the product further along the coffee value chain and in turn realize more of its value.
Cultivation
Twongere Umusaruro farmers grow coffee in the rolling hills of eastern Rwanda, where temperatures, rainfall, and ecological conditions present the possibility of producing exceptional coffee.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Twongere Umusaruro has a well-equipped cupping lab featuring essential equipment such as coffee grading screens, a moisture meter, sample roaster (GAS), scale, grinder, heating pitchers, water filter, and a water tower. When it comes to drying, Twongere Umusaruro utilizes raised beds, allowing for optimal airflow and consistent drying. For storage, they rely on jute bags and polypropylene bags to maintain the coffee's freshness and preserve its distinct flavors.
Sustainable Harvest
Sustainable Harvest® is a specialty coffee trader focusing primarily on bringing coffees to market that are sourced from smallholder farmer cooperatives in the supply chain such as indigenous communities, women groups and the next generation of coffee farmers.
Their sourcing model is built on transparency, traceability and direct relationships between quality-minded coffee roasters and best-in-class coffee producers. Sustainable Harvest® has an on-site presence at origin with staff in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Each office coordinates their supply including quality management, supplier relationships, source development, logistics, training and capacity building.
Coffee in Rwanda
Despite its turbulent history, today Rwanda is one of the specialty coffee world’s darlings – for good reason! Our sister company in Rwanda does an amazing job of bringing the best that Rwanda has to offer to roasters around the world.
German missionaries and settlers brought coffee to Rwanda in the early 1900s. Largescale coffee production was established during the 1930 & 1940s by the Belgian colonial government. Coffee production continued after the Belgian colonists left. By 1970, coffee had become the single largest export in Rwanda and accounted for 70% of total export revenue. Coffee was considered so valuable that, beginning in 1973, it was illegal to tear coffee trees out of the ground.
Between 1989 and 1993, the breakdown of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) caused the global price to plummet. The Rwandan government and economy took a hard hit from low global coffee prices. The 1994 genocide and its aftermath led to a complete collapse of coffee exports and vital USD revenue, but the incredible resilience of the Rwandan people is evident in the way the economy and stability have recovered since then.
Modern Rwanda is considered one of the most stable countries in the region. Since 2003, its economy has grown by 7-8% per year and coffee production has played a key role in this economic growth. Coffee has also played a role in Rwanda's significant advancements towards gender equality. New initiatives that cater to women and focus on helping them equip themselves with the tools and knowledge for farming have been changing the way women view themselves and interact with the world around them.
Today, smallholders propel the industry in Rwanda forward. The country doesn’t have any large estates. Most coffee is grown by the 400,000+ smallholders, who own less than a quarter of a hectare. The majority of Rwanda’s coffee production is Arabica. Bourbon variety plants comprise 95% of all coffee trees cultivated in Rwanda.