Hey everyone,
Phew! We’ve gone from a pretty run of the mill September to a jam-packed October, featuring events a-plenty, new coffee shipments and exciting partnership developments.
Here’s a quick update on what we've been up to, along with our perspective on a very challenging time in Burundi at the moment, and its impact on the coffee industry as a whole.
Updates from the team
Fond farewells to Liv
We waved farewell to our former Quality Control Manager Livi Collins earlier this month, and of course she wanted her leaving do to take place on the padel courts! A good time was had by all - except maybe for the bit where LC ran head first into a wall and had to go to A&E.
LC is Omwani's marketing department, meaning the only photos we got that day were from the A&E B plot.
Welcome to Becky
We welcomed Becky Messenger to the team as our finance and operations manager. Becky comes from a HR and finance background, having previously worked in the NHS and universities, but was looking to branch into a more hands-on company with a cause close to her heart.
Having always had a deep love for coffee, she’s fit right in and brings some fantastic experience and enthusiasm along with her.
Caffe Culture Show
We brought along our flashy pop-up stand, all our current coffees, and a couple kegs of beer!
We were delighted to join industry leaders once again at the annual trade show. There’s always some great opportunities arising from this each year and a chance to catch up, showcase our latest coffees and have a bit of fun!
Hola from Barcelona!
Omwani's EU Partnerships Manager, Daniel (face in the bottom centre) pulls off one of his famous cupping selfies.
The team also travelled to Barcelona this month for a busy couple of weeks, where we were joined by two of our producer partners: Sidney from Lot 20 in Kenya and Dan from Migoti in Burundi. Attending the Barcelona Coffee Awards for a cupping as well as a panel discussion, followed by an event held by Syra, our biggest roasting partner in Spain, we were thrilled to be able to share information and stories on coffee production, direct from the producers themselves!
Meanwhile in Africa…
Rwanda’s new site
Mbare Station was previously owned by a commercial coffee producer, meaning that farmers in the area aren't geared toward specialty cultivation.
Our partners in Rwanda have expanded their operations by taking on a new washing station in Mbare, closer to the city of Kigali. Our incoming shipment of Rwanda coffee will feature lots from Mbare station’s first ever season of production.
For producers, these situations are always interesting, as a new region of operation means forming a new relationship with a community of coffee farmers they may never have interacted with before. These farmers will have their own methods and opinions regarding coffee cultivation, creating a steep learning curve for everyone involved.
Rwamatamu are currently working to build their relationship with the farmers of Mbare, and hope that they will be able to offer support and advice that will improve the coffee quality of the region.
Coffees on the way
We’ve got coffee incoming as we speak from Rwanda and Kenya, with both shipments due in November, and we’re hoping our Burundi coffee will be following close behind, though at a slight delay – we delve into the reasons for that below in our conversation section.
We’ve also received coffee from Uganda, Malawi and Ethiopia recently and we’ve been particularly delighted with the Ethiopian Lots – all of which have travelled well and are tasting outstanding. The Malawi shipment was unfortunately delayed, which we know can have a knock-on impact on quality, but we’ve largely received very positive feedback nonetheless.
We’re now in talks with an incredible producer in Tanzania and we have just committed to our first lots this week. This will be the first time we’ve worked with a producer from Tanzania and the coffees we have just cupped from the current harvest have blown us away, we hope to have some more updates on this shortly so stay tuned!
What’s come up in conversation
Burundi’s ‘perfect storm’
For many years, coffee exports have been the primary source of income for Burundi, accounting for about 69% of the country's total exports. Put simply, coffee is a crucial export product to an economy that is already facing significant challenges.
It’ll therefore be shocking to hear that no coffee shipments have left the nation for more than a month now, due to intense internal disputes within the government regarding the market value of coffee.
Not only does this mean our own exports have been delayed, but so have all others, and we wanted to share some of our thoughts on the situation and explain a bit about the realities the producing partners we work with in Burundi – are facing.
To give you a bit of context - Burundi’s economy is struggling. Not only is inflation rocketing, but the country is also battling fuel shortages alongside many longer-term financial pressures. So, the government is understandably looking for quick solutions to mitigate this pressure wherever they can. And that, perhaps, goes some way in explaining what’s been happening these last few weeks…
We’ve heard through the grapevine from many buyers who purchase coffee from Burundi that a mysterious International buyer has put a proposal together stating they’d buy the entirety of the country’s coffee production this year for a considerable amount of money… a figure far above the current market price.
Tempting for the government? Well, of course, and therefore it’s no surprise this proposal was accepted.
However, we hear this mysterious International buyer has since disappeared and left a raging debate behind them.
With exports leaving the country now lower in monetary value than the price this buyer was proposing to pay, the government has frozen all exports while it debates increasing the market value of coffee to be in line with what the buyer was proposing. But with no exports, there’s no US dollar coming into the country – which will have a detrimental impact on Burundi as a whole.
Though we admittedly don't know all the details behind the nation-wide freeze, what we do know is that the longer it goes on, the more Burundi’s economy suffers as a consequence.
We’ve heard there are some government advisors who are working to try and free up the exports, as are the US embassy, and while that happens our producers – and others – are working to get new contracts signed with agreed prices so we can start moving coffee again as soon as possible.
All of this is compounded as well because the coffee price has inflated, creating a perfect storm.
Last year we had the Suez Canal crisis, and much of the coffee from Burundi was delayed having an impact on the coffee quality when it arrived, Meaning some of our forward contracts were cancelled due to signs of fade in the coffee – This is the realities of the coffee industry that we deal with year on year, and something we are aware needs greater commitment from everyone. Accepting that some things are just out of everyone's control is challenging but a level of understanding is in order to mitigate this.
It’s incredibly frustrating for the producers we work with, but we’re in this together – and we commit to our contracts. And we’ll remain with them until a solution is reached.
We’ll keep you updated as we hear more.
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