Close-up: Interviews with women producers in Rwanda

 Aug. 1, 2026

In this post I'd like to share a few insights from my interviews with 12 producers during my June 2026 trip to Rwanda. Visiting with these women in their homes is always the highlight of my trip when I can afford to make the time. I always learn more about the women who grow the coffee we love!

An overview of the interviews is below. For each interview I had the invaluable assistance of my translators. Bridget VUGUZIGA was translating / assisting for the Agaseke, Ejo Heza and Kungahara interviews. Alice NSHUTII translated / assisted for the Rambagirakawa interviews.

INTERVIEWS (First names used with permission, Last names omitted for privacy)

Marthe Nikuze, Kungahara member

June 12, Kopakaki - Agaseke members

Jacqueline 

Thacienne 

Julienne 

June 15, Kopakama - Ejo Heza members

Olive 

Validiana

Esther

Bwishaza - Kungahara members

Christine 

Marthe 

Valentine 

June 19, Dukundekawa - Rambagirakawa members

Dativa 

Seraphine 

Solina 

Question: In the last 3 years, has your family made progress? Is coffee part of it?

>>Olive - Ejo Heza women's group

Coffee income and the Artisan bonus help me. Otherwise it would be difficult to afford the university tuition of the 3 kids who are now studying in Kigali.

Ejo Heza member:
Olive and her son, Simplice, 22 yrs.

>>Christine - Kungahara women's group

Coffee contributed a lot to our progress in the past 3 years. The two cows we have were bought with coffee income. We have a plan to build a new house using the stones outside in the yard. We pay the school fees of our 4 children. We purchased land with money from coffee. Our chickens provide eggs. We eat a balanced diet. The children don’t suffer from malnutrition. Sometimes we can sell eggs or the baby chicks. We save money in the Kungahara saving groups. 

Question: Do you have other sources of income besides coffee?

58% (7 out of 12 women) said no other source of income. Those who have other income mention selling chickens, eggs, bananas and selling banana leaves as mulch to other farmers. One woman has a sewing machine at her home and does tailoring in the off-season.

Question: What is your mail goal for your farm over the next 3 years?

88% of the women mention improving their farming practices on their coffee plot as part of their answer. Olive said, "I can't expand the land, so I will increase the fertilizer, mulching and pruning to improve the productivity per tree." Soline said, "I'm going to increase the quantity per tree and if possible, plant more trees. I want to have many trees for my daughter after I pass, just like my parents gave me coffee trees."

Perhaps most interesting to you, dear readers, we asked the women "what message would you like to share with those who buy and drink your coffee?"

Agaseke members (L to R):
Julienne, Thacienne, Jacqueline

>> Thacienne, Agaseke women's group: "Please continue to drink it. We are managing well to have consistent quality. In all ways we manage well in order to not be contaminated by potato taste defect."

>> Soline, Rambagirakawa women's group: "I would like you to keep drinking my coffee with happiness and loving it. We are doing all the things to make sure it’s good. Our whole process is made by love and lots of attention. Because of how much energy and power we are using to grow coffee, you may even increase the price to help motivate us as farmers to do this hard work."

>> Marthe, Kungahara women's group: "Come pay us a visit and see how coffee is being planted and try to harvest it! It can be good for you to also do some farming practices, not always just seeing coffee in a cup!"

Rambagirakawa women's group:

Dative, proud coffee farmer, shows us her house...

...her calf

...and her sewing machine.

Cupping and Farmer Interviews in Rwanda

Ruth Ann returned from her annual 3 week trip to Rwanda on July 3. It was a joyous time as every year there's an element of "class reunion", (seeing old friends, meeting new coffee people) and many elements of surprise and amazement as the coffee industry in Rwanda continues to achieve fast-paced changes and innovations.

The key objectives of the trip were achieved:

• Cuppings in three producing regions to select all lots of coffee 
• Interviews with 12 coffee farmers (all women who are members of our supply groups)
• Meetings with 3 exporters and our freight forwarder

And the big, happy metric of success: 0 flat tires! "Only" 2 traffic tickets! (For reference, last year's record: 2 flat tires, 0 traffic tickets.) Rwandan country roads are often rough. When they're smooth, there's often cameras to catch any time you stray above the 35 mph speed limit.

CUPPINGS

Saturday, June 13 - Mushubati Cell, Rutsiro district

8 fully-washed Kopakama - Ejo Heza

12 fully-washed Kopakaki - Agaseke

3 anaerobic Kopakaki - Agaseke

5 experimental from Gakomeye Project:

1. Natural
2. Honey Aerobic
3. Anaerobic natural
4. Anaerobic Honey with Grainpro
5. Fully-washed cherry fermentation

Wednesday, June 17 - Gihango sector, Rutsiro district

7 carbonic maceration, Bwishaza - Kungahara

5 natural, Bwishaza - Kungahara

1 anaerobic honey, Bwishaza - Kungahara

3 fully-washed, A1, Bwishaza - Kungahara

1 fully-washed, A2, Bwishaza - Kungahara

1 honey, Bwishaza - Kungahara

Thursday, June 18 + 19 - Ruli cell, Gakenke district

15 fully-washed A1, Dukunde Kawa - Rambagirakawa

3 fully-washed A2, Dukunde Kawa - Rambagirakawa

7 natural, Dukunde Kawa - Rambagirakawa

3 anaerobic, Dukunde Kawa - Rambagirakawa

INTERVIEWS (First names used with permission, Last names omitted for privacy)

June 12, Kokakaki - Agaseke members

Jacqueline 

Thacienne 

Julienne 

June 15, Kopakama - Ejo Heza members

Olive 

Validiana

Esther

Bwishaza - Kungahara members

Christine 

Marthe 

Valentine 

June 19, Dukundekawa - Rambagirakawa members

Dativa 

Seraphine 

Solina 

MEETINGS with EXPORTERS

Rwashoscco, exporter

Misozi, exporter

CBC, dry mill and exporter

Rwanda Trading Co., dry mill and exporter

Prime International Carriers, freight forwarder

HillsCof Lab, Grace Mukayisenga

One Acre Fund Ventures, financing for coffee cooperatives

SAMPLES ORGANIZED for CUSTOMERS

After cupping, Ruth Ann creates lists for the cooperatives of specific samples she will take in her luggage, and other samples which must get shipped via DHL for urgent delivery to roasters in the US. In the end, Ruth Ann shipped 9 packages with 22 samples to customers and brought back 75 samples.

Ejo Heza Overcomes Challenges to Produce Experimental Coffee

March 25, 2026

Kopakama leaders, including leaders of the Ejo Heza women's group met via video conference with Aritsan last week. They reviewed the challenges that lay ahead as they seek to produce experimental coffee processes using cherry from Ejo Heza. The debate included cherry pricing and calculating the final natural coffee premium.

The team confirmed previous success with anaerobic and natural processes. Customer feedback highly praised the Natural from Kopakama's Mushabati Washing Station, citing flavors like red fruit and red berries.

We appreciated input from Kensaka "Kenny" Kage, the volunteer from Japan's International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who specializes in special process coffee and works with the Ejo Heza women. He helped the team recognize that Ejo Heza's current cherry delivery rate is insufficient for collecting a target quantity of 5,400 kilograms cherries. A smaller target of only 2700 kg cherries, which would produce 5 bags exportable green, was deemed more achievable for 2026. They will build on this in future years.

A debate ensued over how to incentivize Ejo Heza farmers to bring the cherry from their own farms at their homes to the washing station. 2 Rwandan francs per kilogram was deemed too low. No final decision about how to incentivize farmers at the point of cherry purchase were made.

Artisan pointed out that natural coffee will earn a premium ranging from 50 cents to $2 per kilogram above the fully washed price of $9.45 /kg green FOT. Valens Ndereyimana, the managing director, committed to calculating the final cost of production and price to finalize the natural coffee contract.

Everyone is looking forward to hearing the cupping the results of the experiments with Ejo Heza women's coffee when Ruth Ann travels to Rwanda in June. Stay tuned!

Ethiopia 2026 Outlook from Heleanna Georgalis

L: Cher Denny, Blueprint Coffee; R: Heleanna Georgalis

Artisan Coffee Imports is honored to have partnered for 3 years now with Moplaco Trading Co. and its
owner / CEO, Heleanna Georgalis. Heleanna is the second generation owner of MOPLACO and the fourth generation in her family to make a livelihood in coffee. Through hard work and passion for people and coffee, Heleanna has built a reputation of quality and coffee expertise for both the MOPLACO team and herself. 

MOPLACO Trading Co. is short for "Mocca Plantation Company", which makes sense since the company started in 1972 with 1000 ha of land in the heart of the Harrar region of Ethiopia, and Harrar coffee is known for its distinguished Mocca flavor. 

I've come to treasure the annual email Heleanna shares with her customers near the start of our calendar year and at the Ethiopian Christmas-time. I'm grateful that this year Heleanna is allowing me to share her thoughts with Artisan's blog readers via this blogpost. Enjoy!

Jan. 6, 2026

2025 is way behind us in terms of crop and 2026 has soon fully arrived. The past 2 years have been particularly challenging for all of us I believe. Ethiopia, for the first time, achieved a staggering 2.65 billion USD of coffee exports, exporting more than 470T tonnes of coffee, (that is 11 million bags). Ethiopia was known for exporting maximum 6 Million bags, but given the favorable prices, it showed its real potential for export. People are wondering how we could achieve these levels of production but the reality is, that our production has been growing steadily every year but most importantly given the high prices even the dirtiest coffee was exported instead of being consumed locally.

Ethiopia is aiming at 3 billion USD of exports and 600T tonnes of production with tree planting frantically everywhere. Farmers are encouraged because for the first time they see real gains in coffee production. THIS BRINGS GOOD THINGS: Eucalyptus is being uprooted. For the ones that know me, this makes me extremely happy.. 

Local prices of REJECT were similar to the sales of export quality locally. 

2026 is starting with fascinating news that will reshape our coffee world as we know it:

• KDP and JDE Peet's US$16bn mega-merger 
• Luckin is reportedly considering a bid for Blue Bottle
• Coca-Cola wants to sell Costa Coffee.
• EUDR has been delayed hopefully indefinitely
• Brazil weather is improving and so coffee prices have been stabilizing. Everywhere else in the world except Ethiopia.

We must understand that this stems from the experience of last year when farmers rushed to capitalize on the gains they could get. In 2026, coffee prices in the South started at 150 Birr per Kg of red cherry and now at Sidamo Kokose and Bombe prices have reached even 340 Birr p. Kg of red cherry.

The liquidity needed to buy coffee is 3 times as high as last year, sometimes even 4 times. So many of the washing stations and exporters are struggling with the lack of liquidity offered by the banks. 

Our National Bank of Ethiopia has reported losses. Now banks are under strict scrutiny with very stringent laws, additional paper work and requirements. Apparently we have lost 444 billion birr. At least this is not only exporters loosing money but also our Government!!!!

Our digitalizing economy and regularisation of laws imposes new rules and regulations on a daily basis on both export and import. Hence we are facing not only huge penalties in import but also huge delays in clearing anything and huge taxes on all items.  Every process is delayed.

You can think all the above is very good and it is, but it comes at importune times putting a lot of strain on our movements and our facilities.

Coffee harvest in the West, Limu, Djimmah etc. is now over, and in Sheka (location of Moplaco's farm) we have a few days of cherry collection till the harvest is finally over. Flowering has started, which is very strange. Unless the last beans are collected, the flowering will abort and the new crop will be impaired.

In the South, in the highlands we have some 3 weeks of harvest left till coffee harvesting is fully over.

In Sidamo, Bombe, and Shantawene we are now seeing prices never seen before, Guji Kercha, and Uraga are underway with more regular prices but with a huge competition underway from some select exporters and in Gedeb the same.

In Yirgachefe and Kochere harvest is now almost over with some pockets of harvest still remaining.

Average prices requested are around 500 US cents/lb and the Coffee and Tea Authority has imposed significantly high prices as a minimum. The government is expecting high profits from coffee imitating past results. 2026 is a year in which exporters must be careful or there will be a lot of tears shed given the high purchase prices in the local side and the dropping NYC.

People will focus again on the commercial lots of Djimmah and Sidamo Gr-4 and Gr-5.

EUDR drove many people to the edge and the only region not focusing on this has been Harar as it is mainly exported to the Middle East. Crop is significantly lower and is challenging to reach the quality needed.

Container availability seems to be resolved since last year finding a container that was acceptable. However, finding one that was clean and with no holes was challenging.

Luckin Coffee not only contemplates buying Blue Bottle, but has a very lively presence in the market and in Ethiopia now, buying Guji coffee aggressively.

Ethiopian Drama never sees an end and each time we have more creative stories to share. This year's drama is the GOLD RUSH. We are now officialy the EL DORADO of Africa, with literally anyone digging to find Gold Nuggets. Artisanal Mining is booming. If we at Moplaco could afford a Caterpillar excavator, we would be digging too.

In terms of Moplaco:

On each station we will be producing about 2 containers of coffee, each comprised of select microlots of very good quality. Coffee quality is very good this year across the board.

In Sheka we have produced about 3 full containers of special lots, focusing on Honey process that was our best coffee last year with excellent feedback.

We will be buying mixed lots from the West, and this year coffee from Anderacha and Kaffa show excellent potential.

Least but not LAST:

Foreign Banks are entering the market slowly but surely and now Carefour will finally start operations in Ethiopia. Finally I will not have to carry bags full of things from Europe like a wandering gypsy.

For the ones that have LOST LOVED ones, I wish you all a recovery from sadness and optimism for the future.

For the ones that the year has entered optimistically, I wish a continuation.

Heleanna Georgalis

KAIZEN Project Reduces Waste at Artisan HQ

Lean Logistics Team - Takes a Break

The logistics team at Artisan doubled in size in the first quarter, growing from two people, Ruth Ann

and Marie Hucal, to four. We were delighted to add Marcia Higgins and Jonathan Miller to the team. We quickly learned, however, that many of our systems that worked fine when it was two people, no longer worked so well with four. Especially as we worked to get samples out the door in a timely manner, we could tell change was needed. In May 2025 we launched our first KAIZEN project.

"KAIZEN" is a Japanese word that has worked its way into the mainstream vocabulary for anyone

working in manufacturing, anyone who has worked in operations management and a wide circle of others. It means "change for the better" or "continuous improvement" and is pronounced: 

kai·zen /ˈkīz(ə)n,ˈkīˌzen/

IN MAY we started by getting our four logistics team members together - probably for the first time! Ruth Ann presented the definition of Lean and the 12 steps of Kaizen. We tried a fun numbers exercise and found that our team members are 235% faster at circlingn numbers in sequential order when numbers are arranged in order, uniform size, large size and not clear (not blurry). We started to see that different team members have different strengths and weaknesses and that's a good thing!

Our second meeting focused on BRAINSTORMING our chosen process for improvement: Receiving Pre-ship Samples from Origin. To kick off this meeting we had to review key rules for brainstorming:

No bad ideas

Capture everything

Allow time for people to think

Focus on quantity - get LOTS of ideas.

We used Canva for the Brainstorm and the resulting session looked like this:

The brainstorming ends with narrowing the many ideas into a few, and then the team basically votes to choose just 3 or 4 areas for focus. Ours were:

1. A new system for sample storage bins
2. Create a new work station designed and dedicated to sampe preparation
3. Revised labels for all types of sample bags
4. New system for capturing and calculating the pre-ship quantities needed
5. Implementing a KanBan system to minimize the chance we would run out of supplies
6. Creating a centralized sheet for naming our coffees

IN JUNE, the team met while Ruth Ann was in Rwanda. They shared with each other their progress on KAIZEN projects. Each team member received feedback and was able to move forward with their action plan.

Marie welcomes boxes of pre-ship samples.

Finally in AUGUST we could begin the wrap up. It was suprising how each area, whether it was a new sheet for coffee names or a new system for storage bins, brought up long discussions on communication, documentation, and possibities that seemed endless. 

In SEPTEMBER we were able to bring to conclusion each segment of the KAIZEN project to improve the process for Receiving Pre-ship Samples from Origin. Overall, we believe we've cut at least 12% off the time it takes to process a pre-ship sample. But more important than that, we've started to measure the time various tasks take. Once we understand how much time is required, we've become better at finding ways to become more efficient. 

Measuring time for tasks like sample preparation also helps all team members set realistic expectations. Realistic expectations reduces frustration.

The effort to improve processes also clarified the need for written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Now we have written SOPs for tasks that previously created friction and frustration.

The most visible results of our KAIZEN project are 

1. the new sample preparation work-station
2. the new sample storage bin system
3. the KanBan system with it's cards and boards for tracking WHEN something needs to be re-ordered, if it's been ordered and when it's in stock again.

Marcia with the new sample storage system.

In case we have any Japanese readers out there, the hiragana letters are as follows:

 

Proudly showing the new sample prep work station - everyone participated!

Jonathan is one of our KAIZEN champtions!

Slate's Excellent Rebuke of the SCA Take-Over of the Q

Thank you @dailycoffeenews and Roast Magazine for alerting us to a great article by Slate, dated August 25, 2025.

CLICK HERE for the full article

Here are a few of our favorite clips:

We might think of what’s going down like this: The SCA spent a pretty sum to breed a young racehorse  🏇 (let’s call him Cupping Monopoly) from the same pedigree as the world’s fastest horse 🏇 (let’s call him Q-Biscuit). And just as the young buck was about to race the veteran Q-Biscuit for the first time, the SCA purchased Q-Biscuit, then took him behind the barn and shot him. Place your bets! Cupping Monopoly, it turns out, wins the race.😂😂

...

Following the stunning agreement, Marty Pollack, a Q-Grader and co-founder of Torch Coffee, minces no words, likening the SCA to the Mafia [👍👍👍]: “They found out the No. 1 opposition to CVA global domination. It’s Q graders.” Now Q graders either train with the SCA—on a system that erases the specialty coffee community they have long been a part of—or don’t train at all.

...

In its June 2024 outline of the CVA model, the SCA writes, “There can be no calibration in cupping, as there is no objective standard regarding the impression of quality.” But if we are setting standards for tasting coffee, why would we pursue objectivity over quality? I want to drink good coffee, not objective coffee. Sadly, judging by the lack of community engagement the CQI pursued during its agreement with the SCA, it no longer believes in sharing a common understanding of what’s good either.

...

Further comment from me, "Why has the SCA board still not managed to fire Executive Director Yannis Apostolopoulos??"

See our related blogpost, dated June 1, 2025: CVA-Gate: Unnecessary Takeover...

Team-building at Artisan Coffee Imports

 Gallery of photos from our team-building day on July 31, 2025.

We were at the University of Michigan's Adventure Leadership center in Ann Arbor, Michigan for fun in the sun and, for some of our members, meeting each other for the first time!

Our UofM facilitators led us through ice-breaker games and then challenge activities such as moving a ball quickly when everyone must touch it. Then we had to sort outdoor toys when the "organizers" can't see the toys and there's no instruction on what "sorted" means. The most fun was when one group had to explain the instructions to group 2, and group 2 would get penalized for making mistakes.

Concluding the day with a circle of appreciation for each person's skills was almost as nice as the tasty lunch which started our event!