By Bahati Bertin Matonde, founder of Tabar Café
When we think of exceptional coffee, our minds often fly to Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia. Yet in the volcanic highlands of eastern DR Congo, at 1,500 metres above sea level, grows one of the most prestigious Arabica coffees in the world — and it remains largely unknown outside the African continent.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo holds two exceptional coffee-growing regions: the Kivu and the Ituri. Soils enriched by the volcanic activity of the Rift, equatorial climate regulated by the Great Lakes, know-how passed down from generation to generation — everything is there to produce beans of rare aromatic complexity.
The Tabar profile: fruity on the attack, lively in the mid-palate, balanced at the finish. Notes of red cherry, dark chocolate, and a natural acidity reminiscent of the finest Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.
But behind every bean lies a reality few Western consumers know: our producers grow this coffee in an extremely difficult geopolitical context. Armed conflicts, ruined infrastructure, limited access to global markets. Many have spent decades cultivating coffee rather than picking up weapons — and today find themselves with nowhere to sell their harvest.
Tabar Café exists for that. To give this exceptional coffee the visibility it deserves, and to return to its producers the dignity of their work. Every cup you drink is a vote for this value chain — from the Kivu to your cup, by way of our artisanal roasting in Uganda.
