Meet Emmanuel Sebazungu, Quality Manager at RWACOF Rwanda 

With over 25 years of experience in quality control and a passion for coffee, Emmanuel Sebazungu has been part of RWACOF since he started his QC journey. As Quality Manager and leader of our Rwandan QC team, he ensures both specialty and commercial coffees meet client expectations, cupping hundreds of samples daily during peak season and working closely with washing stations to uphold excellence from cherry to cup. We sat down with Emmanuel to learn more about his role, daily responsibilities and the unique attributes of managing quality at origin. 

This Article at a glance: 

• Emmanuel has developed a deep understanding each client’s specific quality expectations through years of relationship-building. This is essential to consistently meeting their needs. 
• Preventing defects, especially during peak season, requires close collaboration with washing stations and meticulous attention to cherry selection and post-harvest handling. 
• Experience is central to sensory accuracy; Emmanuel cups up to 600 samples a week during peak season and trains his team through blind cuppings and daily feedback to maintain consistency and grow collective expertise. 

What are your main responsibilities in quality? 

My main role is to ensure that quality control is on the right track, ensuring the good quality of the coffee as per the specifications required by the client. I also work together with the production team, preparing the quality for the client as per the contract. Then I make sure that the coffee prepared meets the client’s contract specifications so it can be shipped without any issue. The goal is to work together with my team towards the same aim: to satisfy the client’s needs. 

What does it mean to be a Quality Manager? 

To me, being a Quality Manager means leading the team in good spirit. I work together with the team to get us to share the same aims and to make sure that we are working as a team, because teamwork in quality control leads to good results. 

That’s why I support the team and make sure that what we’re doing in QC is aligned with the company’s goals and leads to successful outcomes. 

How many coffees do you cup a day? 

During the peak season, I can cup almost 500 to 600 samples per week. Yes,  a week! These are single lots from the washing station level. For example, we have 30 of our own washing stations, and then we have 4 additional rented stations. We also receive coffee from supplier partners.  

How do you ensure that the coffee you send meets clients’ needs? 

From my long experience in quality control, I know the quality profiles and specifications of the clients we’ve been working with (some for 10 or 15 years) well. So, when I send them a specialty coffee, I know that it will pass. For many, when I send them an offer sample, it's usually approved because I already know their standards. I’ve learned what they’re looking for. 

Clients visit us during the coffee season as well. They visit the washing stations, and  they come to the lab. I prepare samples, and we cup together. During those sessions, we make cupping comments and quality notes, and from that I can learn about what they need.  

If there’s a client who hasn’t visited us, and I send them an offer sample, I can still learn from their comments and feedback. So when I send the next sample, I already know what kind of profile will pass for that client. 

What’s the biggest challenge in your job? 

The big challenge, from my long time in quality control, is when I prepare the coffee and I know I’ve put in all the effort with the client. The team and I worked together to prepare that coffee exactly as per the client's needs. Then we send the PSS (pre-shipment sample) to the client which gets approved, and the coffee is shipped. And then very occasionally when the coffee lands, the client might say, “This coffee does not meet what I wanted,” even though we sent the PSS two months ago. The good thing is that it doesn’t happen very often.  

To help with this, when we send the PSS, we keep a copy sample of that shipment for 2 years, and we store it properly. Then I can track it with the client. When the coffee is rejected, I can send that copy sample to the client to make sure it matches the coffee that was shipped. We can say that with surity. 

Sometimes, the coffee can be damaged during transportation, like if it was in a bad container that was stuffed poorly at the port. Sometimes a container has a hole and water can enter. That damage isn’t caused by the origin – it’s affected during shipment.  

Consequently, when clients visit us here and we show them that area where we keep the copy samples, they get very happy. 

What quality issues are most common at origin? 

Sometimes, farmers want to bring the coffee to the washing station quickly because they need the money, so they pick unripe cherries. That’s a big challenge. At the washing station, they’re supposed to receive only well-ripened cherries. But if that’s not well controlled, it can affect the cup. 

In my experience, if cherries are well selected by the farmers, picked ripe and handled well at the washing station, especially if they come from a good area or origin, they will end up with good cup quality. 

But if the area is good, yet the cherries are not well ripened or not handled well, it affects the quality. Every step plays a role in the final cup.  

What is the potato defect and how do you deal with it? 

Yeah, the potato defect is a big issue that comes from the Antestia bug. It’s an insect that can affect the coffee tree, then go into the coffee cherry. When the cherries are de-pulped, the defect stays inside the parchment. The potato defect is usually detected by the smell. But you can’t detect it by eye. Once it’s ground into powder, the potato smell becomes strong and clear. 

Even then, it can appear randomly. You might find it in just one bean that has affected a whole sample. So, if you cup that sample again, you might not find it the next time. That’s the challenge. 

We work to ensure maximum cleaning and sorting of the green coffee after milling. Even though you can’t identify potato by physical sorting alone, when you sort well, you reduce the chances of having potato taste in the cup. 

If I find potato, and then I re-cup that same batch and find it again, that means the batch is affected. So, I flag that entire batch. It comes back to the cleaning process for a second round of sorting to remove any affected beans. This way, we minimize waste as well. But also, we need to avoid that situation as much as possible, as returning the batch for re-cleaning increases costs. That’s why we must make sure we clean it properly the first time, to reduce extra costs and avoid reprocessing. 

How do you work with washing stations to improve quality? 

We always work closely with the washing station managers to ensure that, as per the SOPs [Standard Operation Procedures], the coffee meets all quality requirements.  

When washing station managers collect cherries from  farmers, we always keep in touch with them to know what kind of cherries they receive. Sometimes they send me pictures of the cherries, then I can tell them, “These are well-ripened cherries, that is good,” and I advise them to sort them very well. 

Then after processing at the washing station, the managers send us the samples for cupping. We give them feedback after cupping those single lots from the washing station before they bring the coffee. 

For example, I can tell them, “This coffee that you prepared at the washing station is amazing.” Or if there’s a problem, then the manager keeps that in mind to improve the quality preparation. 

We speak to them consistently. We even cup together when they come to the lab in Kigali. We work with them daily, especially in the peak season, giving them cupping feedback. That helps them learn how to prepare good quality coffee at the washing station level. 

How do you train new cuppers? 

I'm a Q Grader, and my assistant is also a Q Grader. We’re training the rest of the team by doing regular cupping sessions together. We do blind cuppings with them, and after each session, we compare our comments. 

If someone on the quality team gives the same cupping comments as two other people, that means they're starting to describe the coffee profile correctly. 

By doing this every day, sharing comments, discussing results, we help the team grow and align on how to cup and describe coffees accurately. 

I think the most important advice is to have a good spirit and work hard. 

You can have many samples on the table, but if you're stuck on one and can’t describe the specific qualities, you have to ask. Always ask. 

Don’t stay silent in a cupping session.  

That’s how you’ll grow - step by step - by learning more and more through asking and getting feedback. 

How do you not get desensitized when cupping so many coffees? 

To do cupping, it requires a lot of experience. I did many, many trainings on cupping. I cupped many origins, even traveled to countries to cup different origins of coffee. 

So in my mind, when I’m cupping coffee, I can recognize the cup profile easily because of the experience I have. I’ll know this coffee has this kind of profile. It’s in my mindset. And even when I’m sleeping, I can know the sensory quality of that coffee.  

What makes Rwanda unique in quality control? 

What makes Rwanda unique is that the farmers have started putting a lot of effort into properly handling their coffee farms. They now understand that by producing good quality coffee, they can get a better price. 

At the farmer level, most of them now know how to prepare their coffee farms and cherries to achieve good quality. This is also supported by sustainability projects. 

Rwandan farmers are working with the advice given to them, preparing the trees well, handling the cherries well, and in the end, they get better quality coffee. Of course, they’re happy to receive a good price in return. 

And what’s the biggest reward of your job? 

The biggest reward is making sure that the quality control of the coffee my team and I prepare for our clients matches the roaster’s target. When our clients are happy with the coffee we ship and sell to them, and when that meets the company’s expectations and helps it make a profit, we are happy too. 

Also, we work as a team. When I see our quality control team working together in good spirit, and when I’m able to keep guiding and teaching them every day, that brings me the biggest happiness. 

Any final thoughts? 

Yeah, what I can say is that I’ve worked in quality control for a long time, 25 years, it’s truly about loving what you do. Now I’m a coffee lover, and with the passion I have for quality control, I really love what we do. 

Every day when I wake up, I know I will be cupping coffee – many coffees – on the table, all the way until evening, even just before going home. But I love cupping. I love sharing the experience with my team 

It’s been 25 years with Sucafina. A long time. Sucafina has become a family company to me. 

 With over 25 years at Sucafina, Emmanuel Sebazungu’s story reflects the heart of our work at origin: consistency and a deep love for the craft. If you’d like a deeper look at the relationships in our supply chain, check out this post, to learn more about the farmers and CWS managers who work with them!