Johannesburg – When Starbucks launched its first store on African soil ten years ago, Kabelo Jori was just beginning his own journey behind the bar. This month, those two stories meet.
Rwanda is not a random stop on the coffee map. Starbucks has been buying here since 2004, a decade after the 1994 genocide.
Coffee became one of the threads the country used to recover. In 2009, the Kigali Farmer Support Centre opened, the first on the African continent.
Agronomists there work alongside smallholder farmers on yields, soil health, and sustainable practice.
Almost half a million Rwandan farmers now depend on the industry. Behind every bag on a South African shelf sits more than twenty years of quiet partnership.
For one South African barista, this is more than the source of a cup he has served hundreds of times.
It is a place shaped by what coffee can carry.
Kabelo beat 83 fellow partners to earn a place on the Starbucks Origin Experience trip to Rwanda.
He will travel to the source of one of the brand’s most celebrated coffees.
A coffee he has served hundreds of times.
On soil he has never stood on. He was asked to share what this journey means to him.
When he first heard Rwanda, one word was not enough to describe what he felt.
“Honestly, it felt bigger than excitement. It was a mix of disbelief and responsibility. Rwanda wasn’t just a destination,” says Kabelo.
“It felt like being invited back to the beginning of something I’ve been part of for years without fully understanding.
“I was nervous, yes, but more than that, I felt chosen to carry a story.”
At some point, the journey became about more than winning.
“It stopped being a competition the moment I realised I wasn’t trying to win anymore. I was trying to represent,” says Kabelo.
“Represent my store, my partners, and every cup I’ve ever served.
“That shift from proving something to standing for something, that’s when it became a calling.”
The purple apron represents mastery. This trip is changing what that word means to him.
“Before, mastery felt like precision, recipes, technique, consistency. Now, mastery feels like connection,” says Kabelo.
“It’s understanding the hands behind the coffee, the soil, the story, and carrying that with intention every time I serve a cup.”
He has served Rwandan coffee to hundreds of guests. Now he will stand where it grows.
When he returns, one thing must change.
“I hope my hands slow down. Not in skill, but in awareness,” says Kabelo.
“I want every movement to carry meaning, knowing exactly where this coffee comes from and who made it possible.
“I don’t just want to make drinks. I want to honour them.”
Ask him what a perfect cup feels like, and he will not talk about taste.
“A perfect cup feels like presence. Like everything else, pauses for a second. It’s warmth, but also clarity,” says Kabelo.
“It’s that quiet moment where nothing needs to be added or changed. You feel it before you even think about it.”
Behind the bar, there is a moment when everything goes still. He knows exactly what it looks like.
“Yes. It’s that moment just after the first sip, when someone doesn’t speak. They just pause,” says Kabelo.
“You see it in their face. That silence is everything. That’s when I know the coffee has done something deeper than just taste good.”
He was asked what he thinks Rwanda’s coffee would say to South Africa.
“Slow down and listen to me. Not just taste me, but understand me. There’s a story in every sip, and it deserves your attention,” says Kabelo.
Getting a coffee right is not always about technique. Sometimes it is about instinct.
“I’ve redone a drink more times than I’d like to admit. Not because it was wrong on paper, but because it didn’t feel right,” says Kabelo.
“Sometimes you just know. It might look perfect, but if it doesn’t sit right with you, you start again.”
Kabelo boards the plane to Rwanda.
The question is, who comes back?
Someone more grounded. More aware. Less focused on being impressive and more focused on being intentional.
The person coming back understands that coffee isn’t just a product. It’s people, its place, and its purpose.
Ten years in, this is what the brand has built.
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