Anne-Marie de Brouwer
Brings delicious and honest coffee from Rwanda to the market.
How it started
When I was doing research at the Rwanda Tribunal, I saw how much suffering the people in Rwanda have inflicted on each other. Women have especially been hit the hardest. I wanted to do something. While travelling through this African country, I came into contact with these women – survivors of sexual violence. In the Netherlands, we established the Mukomeze Foundation which empowers women, as well as men. In addition, we have set up an organization – Het Bèkske: Rwandan Empowerment Coffee – in which these Rwandan women grow and process the coffee and we take care of the sale from the Netherlands.
Getting it better
I feel in every cup of coffee that I support these female entrepreneurs so that they can give their children and grandchildren a better future. This will make the world a better place and maybe, just maybe, genocides like the one in 1994 can be prevented. The pain of that time is still noticeable today. I’m not under the illusion that the pain will go away completely, but together we can make sure these women get better. That’s what United Colors Breda is all about for me, and International Women’s Day on March 8th.
Doing even more
That trip to Rwanda made me realize that we can do a lot more in the field of women’s rights in war situations. That is why we have set up the organization IMPACT. Here we make sure that we women and men support each other and that the stories about oppression are not forgotten. And we ensure that we continue to think and act positively. Only then can you allow yourself to celebrate something.
impact-now.org – Combating and tackling human trafficking and sexual violence in conflict
mukomeze.nl – Empowering Rwandan women and men who have survived genocidal sexual violence
rwandese Koffie.com – Honest coffee grown by powerful Rwandan entrepreneurs
lekker met onze koffie
Bèkske’s choice: zoete lente latte
What you need (for 1 person) (5 minutes preparation time):
- 1 Bèkske espresso (light or medium roast)
- 20-gram almond shavings
- 100 ml whole milk
- 6 ml caramel syrup
- 2 caramel fudge cubes
- 1 glass
- Coffee machine
- Milk frother (or saucepan)
How to do it:
Divide the caramel syrup into the glass. To distribute the caramel well, it is best to let the caramel syrup run down the side. This gives a very nice effect.
Froth the milk in a milk frother. Don’t have a milk frother? You can also use a saucepan to whisk the milk. First, pour the whole milk into a saucepan and whisk the milk with a whisk while it is heating. Make sure the milk does not boil. Then pour the milk into the glass.
Prepare an espresso and carefully pour it into the glass with the caramel and milk. If you have a coffee machine, you can simply place the glass under the machine and let both the milk and coffee come in. You get a nice ‘layer effect’ from the milk and coffee (see photo).
Sprinkle the almond shavings on the sweet latte. (tip: you can vary next time by using other toppings such as finely chopped peanuts, marshmallows or popcorn.) If the caramel syrup at the top of the glass has sunk too much, you can add a little more caramel syrup at the top of the glass for decoration.
Serve the sweet latte with two caramel fudge cubes. (tip: you can also serve two nougat cubes with the coffee; these are also available in caramel flavour.)