We love supporting remarkable people with the coffees we purchase. The Fugi Ikizere Women’s Group includes 60 of them — single mothers who banded together to fight Rwanda’s patriarchy and make a future for themselves through coffee. They are truly inspiring, and their coffee is delicious to boot... clean and sweet with notes of cherry, red plum, and rosehips.
We sourced this coffee through our partners at Sucafina. And the Fugi Ikizere Women's Group story is so uplifting, we thought we'd reshare it in full from Sucafina:
Being a single mother in a patriarchal society like Rwanda is quite challenging, and these mothers frequently face stigma, isolation, and depression. With a desire to support single mothers, Baho Coffee Company (a social enterprise started by Rusatira Emmanuel in response to the 1994 genocide) formed a solidarity group where single mothers could unite around coffee farming while finding friendship and hope. The women chose the name 'Ikizere' for their group because it means 'hope' in Kinyarwanda.
Ikizere Women's Group meets regularly to learn from each other and share their experiences and successes. Baho supports the women by providing training in agricultural practices, coffee cultivation, and high-quality processing. Baho also educates them in other skills such as financial literacy, weaving, and animal husbandry to help the women diversify their income and find success.
Through Baho, Ikizere members receive good prices for their coffee cherry and are able to market their coffee as 'women-produced', which adds value for growers and roasters alike. Members receive price premiums for their high-quality coffee and their women-produced status. The women also receive health care and short-term loans for family needs, and Baho helped build a source of clean drinking water in their community that everyone can access.
Ikizere has become so successful that married women are requesting to join the group so that they can access the benefits the single mothers have. Ikizere's single mothers have chosen to share their successes and have welcomed other women into their group.
During the harvest season, cherry is selectively handpicked by female farmers and their families. At intake, staff sort cherry by hand and float it to check for density. After sorting, cherry is moved to raised beds where it is raked frequently to ensure even drying. The cherry dries under careful scrutiny for an average of 52 days.
Elevation: 1550-1850 meters above sea level
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Cup Score: 87.5
Price paid per kilo: £9.91
Process: Fully natural, dried on raised African beds
