Mbare

This coffee comes from Rwamatamu, a family-owned producer established in 2015 by husband and wife team Gaston Rutaganda and Laeticia Mukantwaza, based in Mbare, Southern Province. What they've built over the past decade goes well beyond the washing station.

Rwamatamu works closely with smallholder farmers in both Nyamasheke and Mbare, and has developed two community programs that reflect a genuine long-term investment in the people around them. In Nyamasheke, the team runs a Women's Cooperative: Rwamatamu purchased land, provided seedlings and training, and created a structure where local women grow and sell coffee back to them, giving them an independent income source outside of seasonal work, and a stake in the quality of what ends up in the cup.

In Mbare, a parallel initiative called the Youth Association brings in locals between 18 and 35, with the goal of passing on skills and keeping younger generations engaged in coffee farming. It's a straightforward answer to a real problem: in many coffee-growing regions, the next generation doesn't see a future in the land. Rwamatamu is working to change that.

We chose this coffee because the cup is beautiful, but also because of what it represents. This is exactly the kind of producer relationship we want to build on.