I was very excited to be on the jury for the first-ever Rwanda Cup of Excellence coffee competition in late August 2008.
In fact, it is the first Cup of ExcellenceThe Cup of Excellence is a competition held yearly in many coffee-producing countries, designed to highlight the very best coffees from each origin.: The Cup of Excellence (COE)... ...more in Africa, which is either a blessing or a curse. Curse?
Well, in the promotion of great coffee, CoE is unparalleled. But recent auctions have had extremely high bids on the top lots, and erratic bidding. I worry this sets up the farmers and mills with unrealistic expectations about the relationship between quality coffee and great prices.
We all want the high prices to be a message to the farmers, and a model to increase cup quality and better the lives of farmers. I hope it all works out, and if there was country that could pull it off, it would be RwandaA Bourbon cultivar variant from Rwanda and Burundi. Bourbon coffees are named for the island in the India Ocean where French colonists grew it. Some history from the... ...more.
There are so many good minds here, so many initiatives to improve lives and seek out an economic formula that works in a land traumatized by genocide, where the land is overused, and there’s just not enough of it.
I am betting the CoE will help, and that this competition will continue successfully in Rwanda for the future. -Tom
PS: There’s just too many great photos and not enough time to caption them all. Even without descriptions, I wanted to share them anyway.
Bourbon coffee, our first stop – We went to this immense coffee shop, Bourbon Coffee, to wait for the other judges to arrive via Kenya Air. It’s a roaster retailer on the top floor of a shopping complex, with 30′ vasulted ceilings – very posh. In fact, a bit too posh for me. Free wi-fi means that the place is full of foreigners with laptops (and French people). Rwanda 
Typical Kigali Neighborhood – Well, a fancy subdivision type neighborhood of Kigali, the Rwandan capital. It’s a red-earth town, and if you look at Kigali in Google Earth you see a lot of this iron-rich soil Rwanda 
Video Poker Machine – A sign on a video poker machine across from the fanc coffee house. Rwanda 
Amazing Rwanda Skies (with gas station) – Amazing sky over a gas station Rwanda 
Cup of Excellence Billboard – Billboard for the coffee competition – very odd. I saw at least two, maybe three and signs in the airport. Which is great but I think it shows the kind of development money that is in Rwanda. Rwanda 
Amazing Rwanda Skies – Amazing Rwanda Skies #2 Rwanda 
Amazing Rwanda Skies – The atmospheric conditions and lattitude must contribute to the skies here … because we don’t see this in Oakland California! Rwanda 
Kigame Blows By – On our way from Kigali to Huye, we were forced to pull over while the speeing motorcade of President Kigame blasted by in the opposite direction. There were about 10 of these cars, and I was told they use this road to come from meetings in Burundi. Rwanda 
Google or Googie? – In Huye, the regional town where the cupping was staged. Google is everywhere.. Sort of ironic that internet companies can put paper companies out of business. Rwanda 
Hotel Ibis – My surprisingly attractive room key Rwanda 
Coffee trees with ground cover – This is at the cupping facility – these trees are not exactly representative of the coffee in general but these trees has a lot of cherry. Organic matter is piled at the bottom of the trees to keep the roots moist. Rwanda 
Coffee dry mill across from the lab – Coffee dry mill across from the lab – a pretty great thing to be so close to the actual. preparation of the coffee Rwanda 
The Rwanda COE Jury 2008 – camera crazy – A picture of the majority of the Cup of Excellence jury, who collectively consumed countless gigabytes of data with their well-armed quiver of video and still cameras… Rwanda 
Paul Songer does Brando – Paul led the cupping Rwanda 
Susie and Tim Schilling – Susie Spindler of Cup of Excellence and Tim Schlling of Spread Project – a USAID agrcultural development project. Rwanda 
Tire dealer in Butare – typical store in Butare Rwanda 
Bourbon Coffee Tree – Most farms are 90 bourbon, with some caturra and catui mixed in. Bourbon types are B.M from Puerto Rico, POP (an unknown variety), Jackson and a new one, BM-139 developed from different sources with resistance to various diseases. Rwanda 
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Aleco, Jean Claude, Eric – Rwanda 
The Perfect Pour – Rwanda 
Bruce from CBI, Portland – Rwanda 
Jasper from The Coffee Co., Netherlands – Rwanda 
Kentaro from Maruyama Coffee – Rwanda 
A. Chigounis from Stumptown – Rwanda 
Jeremy and Stephen, Brits – Rwanda 
Paul thinks, Robert (Kaffa, Oslo) makes spitty face – Rwanda 
Christy from Alegro, George from Terroir – Rwanda 
Shinje from Wataru – Rwanda 
Regine from Rwanda – Rwanda 
Simon from Craven Coffee – Rwanda 
Flori from Merkanta, UK – Rwanda 
Geoff Watts, Intelligentsia – Rwanda 
Filip from Brennart, Sweden – Rwanda 
Andreas from Solberg & Hansen – Rwanda 
Joe from Orsir, Taiwan – Rwanda 
Eduardo from Anacafe, Guatemala, Claire from Rwanda – Rwanda 
Yoshi from Ito Coffee – Rwanda 
Gerard -foreground- from Cafe Meo, Belgium – Rwanda 
Lindsay from Green Mountain – Rwanda 
Jeremy Torz, Union Hand-Roasted, UK – Rwanda 
The coffee training center in Butare Rwanda – Rwanda 
Jean Claude (aka Roj) from SPREAD Project – Rwanda 
A pre-cupping taste test … mmm – Rwanda 
Rwanda Bourbon Coffee Cherry – Rwanda 
Rwanda Bourbon Coffee Cherry – Rwanda 
Rwanda Bourbon Coffee Cherry – Rwanda 
Coffee Cherry that will never ripen – Rwanda 
Leafless-yet-loaded with coffee – Rwanda 
Flori Marin and Gerard (Cafe Meo) – Rwanda 
Amateur Bowlers Tour – Rwanda? – Rwanda 
KILL store – Rwanda 
Rubber Hand Salon (Saloon) – Rwanda 
The hottest look – the Dubai look – Rwanda 
St. Annibale Saloon, Huye Butare – Rwanda 
Super Cyber – Rwanda 
Pink and Brown: Prisoners in the Rice Fields – The guys in the pink are yet to be tried, the guys in the orange are convicted. They go out into the field everyday. Rwanda 
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Potato seedling – Well, it’s how potato defect starts in Rwanda. Physical damage to the bean allows a natural bacteria found in the lake region of Africa to enter, hence the dreaded “potato taste”. It is not caused by the berry borer bug itself. Rwanda 
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Francois Xavier – Maraba Farmer – Francois has 350 trees, from 40 years to 18 years old. Rwanda 
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Efracine _Maraba Coffee Farmer – Rwanda 
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Antionette – Maraba Farmer – Rwanda 
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homemade soccer ball – butare rwanda – You see people playing soccer with rolled up banana leaf balls, or , as with this boy, knotted plastic bags. Unfortuneately, I hadn’t brought any sweet maria’s soccer balls on the bike ride or he would be holding one! Rwanda 
Kids along the way – Rwanda 
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Lo-tech representations of Hi-Tech – Rwanda 
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plain ol’ clothes shop, butare – Rwanda 
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Smart Saloon, Cyber Cafe, Huye – In Huye Rwanda, a full service business. Saloon means salon, i.e. hair cuts. Rwanda 
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Murambi Memorial Center – We had the option to go to the national museum, hang out at the hotel, or come here. This is the site of a technical school that was about to open when the killing started. It is believed to be a mass grave with something like 50,000 bodies. Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – A good number of the jurors went to the memorial, I think some folks had been there before. For some I don’t think it was as emotional an ordeal as it was for me. Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – This center was advertised as a place of refuge – and so Tutsis came to the center from the surrounding area. It is a fenced site, so people were basically trapped here, they thought for their protection, but not really. Then the water was shut off so people started starving and dying. Toward the end, gunmen came in and shot people. The bodies in the museum were unearthed on the site from a large pit. I am not sure what the logic was to exume them, and what the plan is to re-bury them. Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – After the killings, the French came in and took over the site and used it as a base. I guess the French had a good relationship with some Hutu leaders, so they came in to prevent reprisal killings. There seemed to be a lot of resentment of the French, as evidenced by this sign to mark where the French flag was raised. Rwanda 
Murambi Memorial Center – Rwanda 
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Murambi Memorial Center – The unremarkable pit where the bodies were exumed. It occurred to me that maybe one reason this place was used for the killing was that it had recently been under construction, so there was probably earth moving equipment there so dig pits and move bodies. Rwanda 
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Rwandan countryside – Rwanda is a very densely populated place, it seems like every square inch of ground is used and occupied. This pressure on the land probably contributed to the genocide, just too many people competing for too few resources. Rwanda 
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Geoff’s Picks – Geoff Watts picks out his favorite at the Rwanda Cup of Excellence 2008. Good work, Geoff! Rwanda 
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Ladies of the Cupping Room, Rwanda Cup of Excellence – At the Rwanda 2008 Cup of Excellence, the women cuppers strike a pose. L to R: Lindsay, Regine, Flori, Yuko, Christy, Claire. Rwanda 
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The Rwanda National Jury – Here is the Rwanda national jury for the Cup of Excellence, as well as the people to helped prepare the samples for the big cupping. Note the Sweet Maria’s soccer ball in the foreground. I was able to pack about 8 of them, and brought a pump. I gave them to cuppers, to kids on the street, and it was part of the award at the big coffee growers soccer game, Maraba vs. Gashonga. Rwanda 
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Maraba – Gishonga Coffee Team Action – Two coffee washing stations competing for the league championship near Maraba Rwanda. Gishonga (Red) won both the men’s and women’s top spot. Rwanda 
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Prizes – The trophy was awarded to the winner of the game – our soccer ball went to the runner-up. Rwanda 
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Band at the soccer game – The band played after the game, and a little bit during the game. They were good too! Rwanda 
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Rwanda Roundtable Discussion with farmers – Rwanda 
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