How to buy and export coffee from Rwanda: washing stations, NAEB, timing and quality

Rwanda coffee in numbers

Rwanda exported 23,860 tonnes of coffee in 2025, earning more than 216 billion Rwandan francs, up from 129 billion in 2024, according to figures reported by KT Press. About 80% of Rwanda's coffee is fully washed, and special processes such as natural, honey and anaerobic make up around 5% of exports at premium prices. Coffee is grown mainly in the south and west of the country, by hundreds of thousands of smallholders.

Washing stations and quality

Smallholders deliver ripe cherry to washing stations, which pulp, ferment, wash and dry the coffee on raised beds, usually with careful hand sorting. That is why Rwanda's typical offer is fully washed arabica with clean, bright, fruity cups, often from Bourbon varieties. Ask for station-level lots if you want traceability. Our processing guide explains the washed method step by step.

NAEB and the cherry price

• Regulator: NAEB oversees coffee exports and quality and runs national programmes such as the Best of Rwanda competition.
• Minimum cherry price: NAEB sets a base farm-gate price for cherry each season, a floor that protects farmers. For 2026 it is 750 Rwandan francs per kilogram of cherry, up 25% from 600 in 2025, and market competition often pushes real prices higher.
• End of zoning: from 2016, farmers had to sell cherry to washing stations in their own zone. The Ministry of Agriculture repealed this in June 2023, so stations now compete for cherry.

Best of Rwanda

NAEB's national specialty competition selects the country's top lots for an international online auction. In the 2026 edition, 25 coffees were chosen from 320 samples; winners scored up to 90.74 points, and previous winning lots sold for USD 71.8 per kilogram in 2024 and USD 88 in 2025. Even if you do not buy at the auction, its results show which stations and regions are producing the best coffee; see cupping scores.

Timing and shipping

The harvest usually starts in late February or March and runs to around June, but weather can delay it. Specialty importers typically take offers from late May to August, ship to Europe in August and September and to the US around October. Rwanda is landlocked, so coffee usually travels by road to Mombasa (Kenya) or Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). See shipping green coffee.

Buying tips

• Ask for the washing station, the harvest dates and the process, and request a pre-shipment sample from the actual lot.
• Cup carefully: East African coffees can occasionally show the "potato taste" defect, so check every bag sample if you can.
• Agree moisture and defect limits in the contract and plan for the inland transport time.
• For the EU, confirm the exporter can provide plot geolocation for EUDR; see the EUDR guide.