By Bahati Bertin Matonde, founder of Tabar Café
Every bag of Tabar Café carries a story. Not a marketing story — a real geographic, human and logistical one. We tell it to you step by step.
STEP 1 — The bean is born in the Kivu (DRC)
In the volcanic highlands of eastern DR Congo, at 1,500-2,000 metres above sea level, refugee producers and their families have been cultivating Arabica for generations. The Great Lakes climate, soils enriched by active volcanoes, and know-how passed down for decades produce beans of rare aromatic complexity.
STEP 2 — The harvest
By hand, cherry by cherry, selecting only the ripe ones. The producers work with us because they share our conviction: despite the geopolitical conflicts that often prevent them from selling their harvest, their work deserves value and dignity. Tabar Café guarantees them a market.
STEP 3 — Transport to Uganda
The green beans cross the border between the DRC and Uganda — a relatively short trip but often strewn with logistical obstacles. They arrive at our partner roasting workshop, near the Kyaka II camp, where I founded Self-made Africans more than a decade ago.
STEP 4 — Artisanal roasting in Uganda
Small batches, manual curve, personalized profile for each format (fine ground for filter, medium grind for press, whole beans, Nespresso capsules). No industrial, no automation — human control from A to Z.
STEP 5 — Packaging and shipping to Canada
The roasted beans are packed in resealable bags, hand-labelled, and shipped to Montreal. Delay of about 10 days between roasting and sale — timing that preserves the aromatics and lets the coffee "breathe" naturally.
STEP 6 — Canada (and only for the capsules)
Nespresso-compatible capsules are the only Tabar products packaged in Canada. The beans arrive roasted from Uganda, then are filled into capsules in Montreal to offer this convenient format without giving up origin quality.
STEP 7 — Your cup
And here we are. From the Kivu cherry hand-picked, to your morning cup in Montreal. Seven steps, three countries, dozens of hands. And 20% of profits that return to where it all begins: to the communities that make this coffee possible.
