Before the Rwandan Civil War in 1994, coffee was a big thing, but after years of fighting and genocide, the industry – and trust between neighboring farmers – collapsed. To help create employment opportunities and bring people together, our founder, Jonathan Golden, built the first LTH coffee washing station in the Ruli farming region. He also bought a 12lb primo roaster and hired a consultant to teach him how to roast beans, thinking that if this idea didn’t work, he’d at least have coffee to give as gifts for the next 20 years.

Thankfully, it did work! Soon, farmers who hadn’t spoken to each other in years worked side-by-side in the coffee fields.