Red Fox was in Kanzu, Rwanda in June to cup through outturns and start making selections for this season. We’ll have the first container afloat soon for fall arrival to warehouses in the US. Kanzu washing station, with its high elevation and cooler climate, is still receiving cherry for a few more weeks, but the bulk of this year’s volume has been processed, dried, and warehoused in Rusizi ready to be milled and shipped.
Flavor profiles to look forward to include but are absolutely not limited to:
- Notes from Joel Edwards, Red Fox Global Lab Manager: Big citrus (tangerine, limeade, lime zest, candied orange peel), dark fruit (dark plum, redcurrant, blackberry), tropical fruit (passionfruit, mango), candy/honey sweetness, and candied ginger. Possibly our best year yet for Kanzu.
This harvest is the first since Rwanda’s zoning policy, in place since 2016, was abolished by the Ministry for Agriculture and Animal Resources. The zoning rules required that washing stations only buy cherries from farmers within their designated zones. Since the zoning policy has been revoked, washing stations and buyers can buy cherries from farmers in any zone in the country.
The immediate impact has been increased cherry competition across the country, as buyers can freely move across zones while farmers aim to sell their coffee to the highest bidder. The minimum price for coffee cherry set by NAEB (the National Agricultural Export Development Board) was already high this year at 480 Rwf/kilo, but fierce competition for cherry has driven that significantly higher—Kanzu cherry prices surpassed 900 Rwf/kilo at peak harvest. While high prices have immediate benefits for coffee producers, they bring higher risk and uncertainty to the supply chain. This harvest season represents a transitionary period. The longer term impacts for the coffee sector in Rwanda remain to be seen.