Rubia Coffee Roasters is a specialty coffee roastery, café and education hub in Kigali, Rwanda, founded in 2016 by Mbonyi Kalisa Mathias. Its mission: to champion specialty coffee culture at origin — in the country where the coffee grows. Rwanda produces some of the world’s most celebrated Arabica beans, yet for generations the finest harvest was exported rather than enjoyed at home.
Rubia is changing that. All coffee is directly sourced from Rwandan farmers, roasted on-site, and brewed by SCA-certified baristas. Mathias himself is a certified Q-Grader and SCA Authorized Trainer, and Rubia offers public education programmes from farm-to-cup experiences to professional certification courses — building coffee expertise at the source. Rubia Coffee Roasters is the only coffee shop from a coffee-growing country in sub-Saharan Africa on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026 list.
