Hello, My name is Olivier Nkurunziza, I’m from Rwanda, and this is my coffee story.
Getting to now specialty coffee is a big turning point for me, becoming a barista is like finding my life purpose. I could never imagine that one day I would become a professional barista. I still can remember the hard times when I first came to Saudi Arabia alone with insufficient experience and not help. It wasn’t easy for me, but it didn’t stop me from loving coffee or my dream career. Today, I am running a coffee shop with other 6 baristas, and we are expanding our coffee branches.
My coffee story started in December 2016, it was Daniel Sibomana, a good friend of mine, who was then a coffee roaster and a barista at @questioncoffee in Rwanda, opened the door to the coffee world for me with a single cup of black coffee.
Being a good barista isn’t an easy task, especially in Rwanda sharing coffee knowledge to raise people’s awareness of the coffee value and the importance of baristas in the coffee industry. However, this is exactly what motivates me every day, I found my passion for inspiring the new generation to understand the real value of coffee.
One of my happiest career moments as a barista is when a photo of me during the coffee competition was featured on Barista Magazine, I felt so proud of myself.
I’m Olivier from Rowanda, and I’M NOT JUST A BARISTA, I am a dream chaser.
