Rwanda Coffee from the Women’s Coffee Extension Kawa Yacu

Joe Borg

Senior Trader, Purchase & Sales

Don’t miss out on your chance to purchase these stellar Rwanda coffee lots from a very special group of women producers with a purpose. We’ve been looking forward to receiving this coffee since we first cupped the offer samples and heard the story behind the coffee. We can’t wait for you to see why!

The Women’s Coffee Extension Kawa Yacu

This lot originates from a very special division of the Mbizi Washing Station: The Women’s Coffee Extension (WCE) Kawa Yacu. Fun fact: Kawa Yacu translates to “Our Coffee”.

The WCE Kawa Yacu is an all women coffee cooperative founded in 2017 by Aline Christine and Odette Uwamariya. Aline and Odette founded the WCE to create a space for female specialty coffee producers to have a stronger voice in Rwanda coffee production. Upon its founding, WCE Kawa Yacu had 350 female coffee producer members. Today there are over 700 members, some impressive growth in just over 5 years!

a group of female coffee producers from the Women's Coffee Extension Kawa Yacu

The WCE focuses their efforts on educating and empowering their female coffee producer members. They are proud to offer an array of services, including nutritional programs, agricultural practices, and family planning. These resources have a tremendous impact on the members of the cooperative. But it also encourages younger women looking to produce coffee to become involved.

In the future, the WCE Kawa Yacu hopes to grow their total members to 1200 female coffee producers over the next two years. They are confident they will attract these new members by paying a better price for the cherries and for all the services they provide.

The WCE Kawa Yacu also plans to continue to expand programs for the benefit of their members. They are currently working on Rain Forest certification in order to increase the premium of their coffee. Additionally, they have goals to provide cows to all of their members and cover health insurance for a majority of members. They also plan to build a sewing center and a Nursery School to help the kids in the area, just to name a few!

WCE Produced Rwanda Coffee

The women from The Women’s Coffee Extension Kawa Yacu want you to know how proud they are to produce this coffee. It means so much to them to see this coffee sold in the international specialty coffee market!

The WCE has used different processes to produce their coffee and has done a fantastic job in doing so. They’ve used a washed, honey, and natural process to produce three different profiles for their coffee and we will receive each kind. We’ll soon have all three different processed coffees from the WCE in our NJ warehouse. Contact your trader to talk more about the flavor profiles on these unique lots!