Bourbon Coffee Kigali has produced the first ever Rwandan coffee barista champion.

The entrant, Jean Pierre emerged as the first ever Rwandan champion in the recently ended, ‘1st Ever Rwanda National Barista Championship’ (RNBC).

According to the judges, this means that Jean Pierre as the winner will represent Rwanda at the, ‘World Barista Championship’ (WBC) in Atlanta USA in April this year.

Sarah Delilah one of the coffee tasters said that the competition had 14 first-time competitors who brought an unparalleled level of enthusiasm and heart to the event.

The competition was one of the parallel events organized by the East African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition that took place last week at Kigali, Serena Hotel.

The coffee conference was organized by the by Eastern and African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), an association of coffee producers, processors, marketing people and organisations in the ten Eastern and Southern African countries, also attracted some of the worlds biggest exporters.

According to Joseph Taguma, EAFCA’s Chairman, the association is a COMESA institution which has grown in stature since its inaugural conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 2004.

John Sanders one of the judges of the competition said, "We had only one grinder Peter Oweti,brought from Kenya and there was another from Uganda.”

"I hope that some of the companies bringing in Rwandan coffee to the United States and pretty much any African coffees are considering ways of improving parity,” he added.

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