Rwandan coffee receives global honours

The awards were announced last week in New York, during third annual Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award (EIICA).

The awards are organised by Illycaffè – a global company specialised in high quality coffee trade—which operates in 140 countries worldwide.

It is the first time both honours were bestowed on one coffee lot in the history of EICCA, after rounds of blind tastings by an international independent jury of top culinary and coffee experts, as well as consumers across the globe.

Philotée Mukiza, the production manager at Rwacof Exports Limited – a Rwanda based coffee processor and exporter – received the awards on behalf of the company which owns the Ngororero-based washing station among other stations in the country.The award winner was chosen from among the world’s top coffee lots which were harvested in 2017-18 in nine countries, whose producers attended a gala at the Rainbow Room in New York.

Alongside Rwanda, coffee beans from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India and Nicaragua were chosen to compete as finalists, following analysis at Illy’s Quality Lab at its Trieste, Italy headquarters.

“Quality starts in the mind of the farmer, but working with the Rwacof team and Illy has reinforced my view that everyone in the supply chain plays a role in safeguarding and improving the quality of coffee,” Mukiza said.

A separate “Coffee Lover’s Choice” award, presented by United Airlines, was also conferred to Muzika on behalf of Ngororero Coffee Washing Station, marking the first time both honours have been bestowed upon one coffee lot in the history of the EICCA.

Between July 2017 to June 2018, coffee exports earned Rwanda about $66 million against $58 million in the previous year.

By the end of the current financial year (2018/2019), Rwanda targets to export 24,500 tonnes of coffee, up from 23,000 tonnes last year, according to statistics from National Agriculture Exports Development Board (NAEB).