I was in Rwanda for only a week and a day and much of that time I was occupied with cupping that small country's best and quite extraordinary coffees at the Cup of Excellence competition. That brief time nevertheless left a lasting impression. I visited southern Rwanda, with gentle rolling hills where every square inch was dedicated to some kind of agricultural production from coffee and produce to eucalyptus trees, introduced by the Belgians decades ago in the age of colonialism, for paper, construction and firewood. With the conclusion of the Cup of Excellence and the giving of awards to the winners, presided over by President Paul Kagame himself, a first for the Cup of Excellence, I was driven to Lake Kivu on Rwanda's western border with Congo.

As I travelled west the countryside became mountainous and volcanic; the earth blackened. Vegetation grew lush and the population density grew dramatically. A chain of volcanic cones appeared along with smoking Nyiragongo as we neared Lake Kivu, one of Africa's great lakes, over 1,000 square miles in area.

My hotel was a twenty minute walk to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo where Tutsi rebels are nearby in a faceoff with Congolese government troops, accused of supporting large remnant of Hutu extremists who led the genocide and are now living in their land just beyond the reach of the Rwandan army. Once or twice a day large jets take off from Goma, so close you can clearly hear them, carrying the latest precious metal ore, coltan, from which tantalum is extracted for use in consumer electronics products such as cell phones and computers. Profits from export of coltan from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to European and American markets has been cited by some reports as helping to finance the present-day conflict in the Congo. The memory of the 1994 genocide is deeply woven into the fabric of Rwanda. One cannot drive far without passing a memorial to the hundreds of thousands of victims, claimed in a mere one hundred days.

A thirty minute boat ride south on Lake Kivu led to a large coffee washing station run by the cooperative Coopac; here many people were assembled. They greeted us with drums and extraordinary inspired dancing. We were told that while such greetings were traditional the one given for us had more than the usual improvisation and energy. We were blessed.