Kinini Village (Rwanda)

COUNTRY Rwanda

CROP YEAR 2024

LOT Kinini Coffee Cooperative, Kinini Village, Washed

PRODUCER (GROUP) Kinini Coffee Cooperative - Kinini Village

 ALTITUDE (MASL) 1800-2200

VARIETALS Bourbon

TASTING NOTES Butterscotch, black tea, meyer lemon, pink grapefruit 

"Kinini" means, literally, 'this big thing right here'. It is the name of the collaboration of cooperatives seeking to pool their efforts to improve their lots. 85% of the members are women. Kinini is also the name of a washing station and cooperative located in Kinini town, which collects from the neighboring villages of Tumba and Mageragere.

The result? The care taken at the farm (by farmers incentivized to do so), at the washing station, during cherry collection, and on the drying tables paid off. They had done it! This is the very moment we met them. Malcolm and Jacquie had been so busy building Kinini Coffee that they were just getting around to figuring out how to sell the coffee. We fell in love with both the story and the coffee and snagged their first export to the United States that year. The quality demanded a price that helped to justify the amount of time and energy everyone had put into the venture. Farmers were happy with the new income stream and the price paid as well. The lot selection we chose was from the Tumba Village area, which Crop to Cup was lucky enough to visit the following spring. This is only the beginning of their story.