Africa-Arabia

Burundi is one of the smallest coffee-producing countries in East Africa - yet they believe it is the best. Coffee was introduced by Belgian missionaries in the early 1900s - with around 800,000 families cultivating arabica coffee as their main livelihood.

Coffee farming in the Democratic Republic of Congo is based in Kivu (East Congo) or Kinshasa. Kivu borders on Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

The birthplace of coffee, coffee trees grow wild in Ethiopia. Coffee production is critical to the economy with making up about a third of the country's exports with about a quarter of the population dependant on it for their livelihood.

Kenya is known for its cooperative system of production, processing, milling, marketing and auctioning coffee with about 70% of the coffee being produced by small scale holders.

Rwanda is known as the "land of a thousand hills", almost the centre of Africa. Unfortunately coffee production was forced on Rwandan farmers in the 1930s. Without training or infrastructure the quality of coffee was very poor until the 21st century - after the horrific genocide. With a focus on reconciliation and strategy, coffee has helped to rebuild Rwanda and turn the qualify of production around.All of Rwanda's coffee is Arabica, with 95% being one of several long established Bourbon varieties.

Kenya's less well-known neighbour produces almost the same amount of coffee each year. The coffees are marketed by both an auction system and direct sale. Tanzania’s economy is heavily reliant on agriculture and this provides employment for around 90% of the workforce and accounts for some 85% of exports. The main cash crops include coffee (of which over 90% is grown by smallholders), cotton, tobacco, cashew nuts, tea and sisal.

Coffee, as a commodity, contributes between 20 and 30% of the foreign exchange earnings in Uganda - a fifth of which is Arabica. Robusta is native to Uganda with Arabica being introduced from Malawi by the missionaries in 1990 as a main cash crop.

NO YEMEN GREEN BEANS IN STOCK SORRY. The earliest evidence of coffee cultivation appears in the middle of the 15th century in Yemen's Sufi monasteries. Coffee was brought to Yemen from its birthplace of Ethiopia by traders.