It's finally happening.
Rwanda here we come.
I have been waiting for this trip for a year and a half now,
and we are finally here.
We are in Rwanda, in Kigali.
We are here today because of the Barista Championship.
I never thought I would travel the world through coffee.
I hope we'll get to experience the fresh coffee,
and brew it in the coffee farm.
This is like a dream come true.
Yeah.
The Origin Experience is a unique opportunity
where we take partners to origin
so they can experience the very first ten feet of our supply chain.
We kicked off the morning with a drive into the heart of Rwanda.
It's just so beautiful with the green Rwandan mountains.
Then we reached the Dukundakawa Cooperative
and there we got to see the different stages
of trees being planted in the nursery.
Seeing the process from planting the bean
shows you that dedication starts from the beginning.
From that stage, the tree is ready for planting.
I got to plant my very own coffee tree.
It made me feel like I am really responsible for the sustainability of coffee
and it made me feel like I am a part of something so much bigger.
One of the great things from the Origin Experience is their opportunity
to see Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices.
It's broken into four pillars:
quality, economic transparency,
social responsibility, and environmental leadership.
Farmer Support Center is an open source of agronomy.
We support everyone,
C.A.F.E. Practices certified farmers, as well as non-certified farmers.
Having a Farmers Support Center helps to change lives of people.
It's also a connection,
because once one farmer sees his neighbour is doing quite well,
he just asks him, What should I do to bear the same fruit?
We also got to experience the picking of the coffee cherries.
I used to think it was easy, but not really.
I would never wish to see their hard work go to waste.
After that, the washing,
you know, the processing,
the mills,
drying the coffee.
It was just an amazing experience.
So we’re tasting the Abakundakawa coffee.
It's one of the coffees that I have experienced in store,
but now, surprisingly, it's quite bold in flavour.
Being here, nurture's my spirit.
So this is day two.
We started with the last steps of processing coffee.
Yesterday we were at the wet mill.
Today we are at the dry mill.
Drying the coffee,
removing the parchment
and cupping as well, to check quality.
We went to see the sorting by hand.
I got to sort a little bit of coffee myself,
these are some of the defective beans.
And I made a bit of a connection with one of the ladies.
I can't believe all of these bags are just being sorted piece by piece
for color, size and any type of tiny defect.
They have their part and we have ours,
but they work the hardest.
Part of the experience is that partners are removing the label of coffee
and replacing it with the faces and places where coffee comes from.
The supply chain is not a chain, it's actually a link of people
doing their work to ensure a sustainable future of coffee.
We also went to visit the Genocide Museum today.
It makes me angry how much people are capable of violence.
It amazes me that the people of Rwanda
are still capable of putting trust in each other.
I've always known that we were part of something bigger.
I'm proud to be a partner with the people who
help sustain the livelihood of the farmers every day here.
Despite of what Rwanda has faced,
they are full of love.
There's a song that says "Celebrate humanity,
and then when you love, love unconditionally,
because a better world begins with a smile."
I knew about Rwandan coffees.
I've read about Rwandan stories.
But now, getting to experience the people from Rwanda,
sharing those stories with us,
it's changed me.
I'm a different barista and I'm a different person.
Bring on day three.
Today is a last day, so sad.
Today we got to kick off the morning with a coffee tasting,
Teddy, Phuti and I.
It's always nice have the Champions reunited.
After that, we headed down to the Farmer Support Centre in Rwanda.
In there, we got to do a cup tasting.
That was so amazing.
We met up with the Purple Ripple,
the people who are in charge of the community service on the ground.
After an experience like today,
you just can't go home, not changed.
Coming here to the Origin and seeing the people making it happen
from seed to tree to package, all the way to us,
it makes the connection with the coffee a lot more special
To see that we are not only a coffee company,
but we are a people's company happening to be serving coffee.
The first ten feet and last ten feet connects us.
Now that we have that connection with the people,
that gives you a big sense of responsibility
and it makes you feel you have such an important role.
What Starbucks do supporting the farmers,
now, every gram counts.
Every Rwandan coffee that I will brew,
it will always bring me back to the memory.
I am linked to Rwanda for life.