People & Culture

Roasting resilience: Nadine Umutoni‘s coffee mission

A journey of coffee, culture, and compassion from Rwanda to Vancouver

Jul 08, 2024
1,472 words
6 minutes

By Bianca Bujan

Nadine Umutoni visits a coffee farm in Rwanda. (Photo: Roy Apollinaire Bizimana)

Sloped green hills protrude from the ground like giant goosebumps as rows upon rows of swollen shrubs stripe each hillside. Squinting through the misty morning sky, I admire the perfectly parallel lines, appearing as though they had been created by giant fingers dragged through the landscape. I’m riding in the back of a safari Jeep, ascending a steep road that weaves through the western region of Rwanda towards Lake Kivu, which lies on the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It quickly becomes apparent why the country is called “The Land of a Thousand Hills.”

Nadine Umutoni, Founder Neza Coffee. (Photo: Roy Apollinaire Bizimana)

I later learn that the striped slopes are coffee farms—just some of the more than 450,000 scattered throughout Rwanda. Some of these farms grow almost vertically on terraced plantations built along the contours of the mountains to make the most of the steep terrain. There are no large estates here. Instead, the landscape is covered with small-scale, family-owned coffee farms, one of the country’s largest exports.

During my road trip through Rwanda, it became clear that while coffee is a big cash crop, it isn’t a drink of choice here—most locals prefer tea. As a committed coffee drinker myself, I’m intrigued by how new the coffee scene seems to be in Rwanda, even though the country produces some of the world’s best brews. My curiosity continues when I return home.

Back in Vancouver, I do some digging into Rwandan coffee culture, and its availability in Canada. My research leads me to Nadine Umutoni, founder of Neza Coffee, and we meet for a chat.

Coming to Canada

Umutoni moved to Canada from her home in Rwanda’s southern Bugesera district at the age of 20. She had never been on a plane, didn’t speak English, and had no plan. “Sixteen years ago was shortly after the genocide, and every family that was able to, sent a loved one abroad for a better education and a better life. At the time, we still weren’t sure of the future of our country. It was still in limbo,” she shares with me.

The youngest of nine children, Umutoni lost her mother and five of her siblings during the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. With her best interest at heart, her father sent her to Ottawa (Canada’s capital) to start a new life.

Author Bianca Bujan with Nadine Umutoni holding a bag of Dark Roast Neza Coffee beans. (Photo courtesy Bianca Bujan)

But Ottawa was too cold, and after nine months, she quickly headed west to Vancouver, a three-day journey by bus. When she arrived in Canada, Umutoni didn’t start working in coffee right away. “I had bigger fish to fry!” she says. “I had to learn the language first and go to school. And then I started drinking coffee, and I was like, ‘How come there’s no Rwandan coffee here?’”

Coffee was in her blood, and as an eager entrepreneur, she saw an opportunity to bring her country’s cash crop to Canada. “Both my grandmothers were coffee farmers in Rwanda. As the youngest of nine children, I spent a lot of time with them on the coffee farms,” Umutoni shares. “We weren’t allowed to touch the coffee beans, so we would sit and play and watch. Looking back at it now, I can see that they really poured their heart and soul into the coffee.”

While coffee production was the family business, they didn’t drink coffee. “It was mostly an export. It wasn’t made for us to drink. Coffee was just for business.” she says. “Back then, there were no coffee shops in the country—even 16 years ago when I left. Coffee culture in Rwanda is still quite new.”

Nadine Umutoni holds a bag of Dark Roast Neza Coffee beans. (Photo: Roy Apollinaire Bizimana)

Common grounds

The landlocked African country may be small, but Rwanda’s coffee has garnered big global recognition in recent years. The high altitude, volcanic soil, favourable climate, and meticulous processing methods have made Rwandan crops a standout for coffee connoisseurs. In 2018, Rwandan coffee won the “Best of the Best” and “Coffee Lover’s Choice” awards at the third annual Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award (EIICA). This was the first time both honours were bestowed on one coffee lot in the history of EIICA.

So why haven’t we heard about Rwandan coffee here in Canada? “There actually is some Rwandan coffee here,” explains Umutoni. “But on a smaller scale. Rwandan coffee is quite expensive, so when coffee roasters here buy Rwandan coffee, they mix it with other coffee to create a blend. Our coffee comes from a high elevation, which makes it smoother. Roasters will mix Rwandan coffee with others that aren’t as smooth to make a really beautiful blend, but then it’s not recognized as Rwandan coffee. So that’s why people don’t know we have great coffee in Rwanda because it’s mixed behind the scenes and not labelled as Rwandan.”

Eager to change that, and with encouragement from her friends and family back home, the young entrepreneur went on a mission to bring pure Rwandan coffee to Canada. Now, Rwanda’s emerging coffee culture is making an impact on the country from Vancouver. But it hasn’t been an easy process.

“I can see that they really poured their heart and soul into the coffee.”

Sourcing coffee was the easy part, as Umutoni has many family members and childhood friends who harvest coffee farms back home in Rwanda. She began by bringing two to three bags back with her at a time and worked with local roasters in Vancouver to experiment. “The hardest part for me was here—how to roast the coffee, the packaging, and the business side. Navigating this all through 2020/21 during the pandemic as a brand new entrepreneur. I didn’t have funds to hire help so I did everything by myself,” she explains.

But as more people tried (and loved) her coffee, Umutoni’s business grew, and she had to scale up. The larger roasting quantities and regimented requirements that come with being an organically certified product meant that she had to switch to a new, larger roasting facility. Neza Coffee is now roasted by Level Ground Roasters in Victoria, B.C., with distribution reaching a broader audience.

Giving back

From the beginning, Umutoni knew she wanted to find a way to give back to her country, so her business plan was built with that in mind. Now, partial proceeds from each purchase support genocide survivors through the Neza Foundation, a partnership she formed with Groupe des Ancient Etudiant Rescapees du Genocide (GAERG). The group was created by students, including Umutoni, who survived the genocide and needed to find a connection as they began their healing journey.

Nadine Umutoni presents a cheque to GAERG Rwanda for $4,000, partial proceeds from her coffee sales at Neza Coffee in Vancouver. (Photo: Roy Apollinaire Bizimana)

“The only thing we could do at that time was get together and share our stories, what we went through, our struggles, and help one another in any way we could. I needed it—we all needed it, to be surrounded by people who understood our experiences,” shares Umutoni. “The group has grown, and now they help genocide survivors with trauma therapy and the older generation to come up with ways to sustain themselves. GAERG holds a special space in my heart. They’ve done so much for me and now I want to give back,” explains Umutoni of her passion project.

While her business is still quite new, Umutoni has already fulfilled that promise. In 2022, her first full year in business, $4,000 was given to the organization. “It’s not much,” she says humbly, “but I will continue to support them as much as I can.”

Looking forward

As Umutoni’s business continues to grow, she hopes to expand beyond Vancouver, with her sights set on reaching US markets as well. In July 2024, she will open Neza Cafe in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood—a milestone she describes as a “pinch me” moment.

On whether or not Umutoni has shared Neza Coffee with her friends and family back home, she says, “I sent a package of my coffee to my family–my sister in France, another in Kenya, one back in Rwanda, and they all loved it which made me so very happy.”

Back at home, as I sip on a freshly brewed cup of Medium-Dark Roast Neza Coffee, I’m brought back to my time spent in Rwanda, the sight of the striped hills, and my time spent with Umutoni in Vancouver. The brew has hints of fruitiness with a crisp, clean finish—so smooth, it doesn’t even need milk.

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