Coffee Archives - Trade for Development Centre

KOAKAKA: Specialty coffee from Rwanda

February 22nd 2021

In 2002, a number of farmer groups near the Nyungwe Forest in southwest Rwanda set up the coffee cooperative KOAKAKA. Step by step they expanded their organisation to include around 70 collection points where members bring their freshly picked berries, and two washing stations where the first steps of the process take place. With TDC’s coaching in marketing and business support, they managed to have a 69% increase in the sales price.

Ray & Jules roasts fairtrade coffee using the power of the sun

November 10th 2020

Ray & Jules combines a desire to improve the world with a background in engineering. “The coffee sector produces 60 million tons of CO2 every year. We want to bring that down to zero. It’s ambitious, but doable. Technology like ours can open up new horizons in a sector that has been doing the same thing for over a hundred years. And with all of the associated consequences”, says co-owner Gert Linthout. Introducing a world-first: using solar energy to roast fairtrade coffee.

KOAKAKA report: quality coffee from Rwanda

October 2nd 2020

Koakaka is a coffee cooperative from Rwanda that produces top quality coffee. Despite this, the cooperative – like many in the region – faced many challenges: demanding buyers, small profit margins and a lack of market knowledge.

In 2016 Koakaka was selected for a coaching module in marketing and in business management of TDC. This gave them all the tools to strengthen their position on the international market. Successfully!

Fair trade coffee: Muungano’s successful development

June 12th 2020

Muungano was coached by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC). After two years of collaboration, Daniel Habamungu, manager of the coffee cooperative, and Belgium’s Raf Van den Bruel take stock of their very valuable experience.

Fair trade coffee: Muungano grows successfully in Eastern Congo

November 4th 2019

Muungano has just been coached by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC). After two years of working together, Daniel Habamungu, director of the coffee cooperative, and Belgian Raf Van den Bruel sum up a “valuable” experience.

COCOCA: coffee in Burundi

November 2nd 2019

In Burundi, ‘Horamama’ first and foremost brings to mind a traditional song which women sang on their way to the field or on their way home. The word means ‘courage’ or ‘power’ and helps them forget their tiredness. Today, Horamama is also a coffee brand of COCOCA, a union of 39 cooperatives from across the country.

Coffee: Consumers savour, small producers drink the cup

October 22nd 2019

The coffee industry is swimming in paradox. On the one hand, the beverage is more consumed and appreciated than ever before around the world. On the other hand, the remuneration of producers is at its lowest point, so much so that more than half of them now sell the fruits of their labour at a loss…

Café Chorti: Fair trade coffee from Guatemala in short circuit

September 14th 2019

The small coffee producers in Guatemala guarantee a fair income and offer consumers in the North a high quality product: this is the double challenge of Café Chorti, a fair trade initiative which guarantees that the coffee is delivered directly to our cup.

“La esperanza del café”: A song to raise awareness of the coffee crisis

August 9th 2019

Alvaro and Antonio Morales, two professional Belgian-Salvadorian singers well known in El Salvador, have just released a song designed to make consumers aware of the crisis currently affecting coffee producers.

Market study: hot beverages in Kenya and East Africa

November 8th 2018

The Trade for Development Centre (TDC) and Fairtrade Africa partnered with Euromonitor International to better understand the hot beverages market both in B2B (foodservice and institutions) and B2C (retail) channels, and the potential commercial opportunity for Fairtrade certified brands in Kenya and the wider region (Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda). The market research particularly focuses on the Fairtrade products as tea and coffee as the main hot beverages consumed by Kenyans but also on the powdered hot drinks such as hot chocolate.