Thousand Hills Coffee - Rwanda's best right here in Boston

January 10, 5:16 AMBoston Food ExaminerJacqueline Church

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Great Coffee, Great Cause - Coffee from the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda.

Want to enjoy a great cup of coffee and do a good thing for someone else at the same time?

Thousand Hills Coffee Company - right here in Boston - brings us high quality Arabica coffee from Rwanda. It also helps subsidize and promote the Rwanda Middle School Project sponsored by the Paraclete Foundation of South Boston, Massachusetts.

Rwandan coffee is mostly grown by small-scale farmers at high altitude areas in rich volcanic soils. The tiny central African country is an emerging grower of some of the world's top grade speciality coffees, according to this article in Reuters (Jan 8, '09)

I met with Stephen L. Coffey, President of Thousand Hills Coffee, this afternoon and learned about what this "little company that could" is doing. The middle school this coffee helps to support is a primary motivator for this South Boston native.

After meeting him, it is no wonder his awards include the Boston Business Journal's 40 under 40 awards for business success and community service. As Bella English pointed out in her moving article Boston women help build Rwandan girls school, there may not have been the same Oprah-esque fanfare or star power at the groundbreaking for this school, but that's okay the young girls here will take life-savers over celebrities.

And what about the coffee? It's really very good.

Rwanda has rich, volcanic soil, a consistent climate and just the right alititude for optimal coffee growing. The coffee has qualities of other African coffees, bright clean flavor, rich color, and a fruitiness that makes it a very easy to sip coffee.

While Oprah and Bono ($100 Million spent to generate $18 Million in support) and Madonna do their celebrity thing, other people, real people are exorcising ghosts of a brutal past. Real people are instilling hope in the next generation and teaching the country's next leaders, thanks to the efforts of the Paraclete School and Thousand Hills Coffee.

Make this your house blend and help Rwanda educate girls, one cup at a time.