Why Is It So Hard to Find Good Coffee in Kampala?

If you've ever been to New York City, Rome, Singapore, or Tokyo, you've probably come across several coffee shops on every block. Coffee seems to be everywhere, from high-end to take away options, even though none of the countries grow coffee themselves. 

Uganda, which is a serious coffee producer, (the world’s eighth largest) grows millions of tonnes of coffee each year. You would think we’d be spoilt for choice and that there would be a rich coffee culture to experience on the busy streets, bustling with vibrant young people, most of whom are under the age of 35. 

Given Uganda’s title as the birthplace of Robusta coffee, you might expect that on the drive from Entebbe International Airport to Kampala, along the glorious Lake Victoria, that you’d see billboards reading 'You Are Now Entering Coffee Country!' And with the excitement and anticipation of being in a coffee producing country, you might also look forward to a signature coffee drink like Vietnam’s delicious cà phê sữa nóng or Brazil’s sweet cafezinho, or their unique brewing methods, like the phin filter or coador. 

Left: a phin filter making coffee with condensed milk. Right: a coador in Sao Paolo, courtesy of Reddit.

Instead, you could very well enter and leave Uganda without ever having any coffee or even realising that you are in a country with such a rich and unique coffee heritage. Many will tell you that you must try a rolex, a rolled chapati wrap filled with eggs, or Waragi, the local alcohol. But what about coffee? And what is this rich heritage that Uganda boasts of? 

A lot of people may not know this, but Uganda is actually Africa’s largest coffee exporter! In addition to being the birthplace of Robusta, Uganda has many coffee varieties, inlcuding wild forest coffees. Combined with our tropical climate and rich soils, Uganda has earned the status of being the Home of Fine Robustas, where the global robusta coffee protocols were ratified in 2010. That means experts from around the world gathered in Uganda to set the standards for robusta worldwide! 

Uganda is a one-stop shop experience for coffee buyers where both robusta and Arabica are available. Most of the Arabica coffees are grown on the beautiful Mount Elgon slopes, which is the world’s largest free-standing volcano. The fertile, volcanic terroir gives the coffee unique attributes. 

Pictures: a visit from our last sourcing trip to a processing station in Sironko, Eastern Uganda

Coffee is also Uganda’s biggest agricultural earner with over 1.7million smallholder farmers, and has been the 'breadwinner of Uganda' since the 1980s. Around 86% of the country grows coffee, offering endless beautiful scenery of coffee flowers blooming and red cherries drying outside homesteads during coffee harvesting seasons. In addition, Uganda scored third best-tasting coffee in the world at a forum where over a thousand professional coffee tasters certified by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) made this assessment after researching and analysing coffees harvested globally from 2010 to 2018.  So why is there no mention of coffee? 

This frustration and bamboozlement led us to start investigating, and eventually led to the creation of One Tribe Coffee. We found that the challenge is three-fold, and we set our hearts on being part of change, raising our voices to tell the story of our coffee heritage.

Here’s what we found:

Challenge 1. Most Ugandans Don't Drink Coffee...

... some prefer to eat it. Even though Uganda is the world's 8th biggest coffee exporter, only 5% of our population consumes coffee. Traditionally, roasted coffee is also for eating. It is normally bought on the roadside, often in pouches made from banana leaves. Culturally, coffee is used during marriage introduction ceremonies, brotherhood ceremonies and also chewed by men for their prostate health and well-being. When we first opened a coffee kiosk, we were surprised by how many customers came in asking to buy a scoop of coffee straight from the hopper! Even though we do have this unique way of consuming coffee, it doesn't move the needle much on consumption.

By comparison, our neighbour, Ethiopia, was the world's 5th largest coffee grower in 2023 and the top grower in Africa. However, they consume a whopping 50% of the coffee they grow, meaning that half the coffee doesn't even leave the country. 

The reasons as to why Ugandans generally avoid the drink are many, and complicated. It ranges from colonial scars to pseudoscience to patriarchal rules and everything in between. We have another blog post delving into it all coming soon, so sign up to our mailing list so that you don't miss it!

 

 

On the other hand, there are a few coffee drinkers here in Uganda who will turn their noses up and say things like, 'I only drink Italian coffee.' “Or those who insist on drinking the unhealthy instant coffee that floods conferences, offices and tourist establishments. The only problem is, coffee doesn't grow in Italy. In fact, Italians love our robusta coffee so much that it's highly likely their coffee came from Uganda! And since instant coffee is not manufactured in Uganda, it often has no traceability and only enriches overseas companies.

Whether it’s from misinformation or misunderstanding, if there is not much demand for good quality coffee in vibrant coffee shops, there will not be much supply. Even though there are some wonderful coffee shops here that put a lot of time and effort into their coffee offerings, on the whole, the coffee found in most restaurants and hotels can be an anticlimax. Part of the reason why is:

Challenge 2: You Blink and The Good Coffee is Gone

Since Uganda is so export-oriented, it can be very difficult to get good quality coffee internally. All of our best crops are often booked up by buyers from overseas. This season’s coffee harvest just started and many of us in the country are scrambling to secure our supply from whatever's left. If you wait even one day, your reserved coffee could be sold to someone else more desperate than you! It's like a fish market at 5am!

Pictures: visiting the warehouse of one of our suppliers. Each bag contains 60kg of coffee, all of which will be shipping overseas.

Challenge 3: Good Crop, Bad Cup

Even if you do manage to secure a bag of A-grade green bean coffee, you then face the challenge of where to roast it. There are roasting cooperatives across Kampala that will charge around 5,000UGX per kilogram to roast your coffee, but that comes with many drawbacks. Without knowing the ideal roast profile for your coffee, the mass roasters will chuck it in the machine and let it rip, resulting in coffee that's often baked (under-roasted) or burnt (over-roasted). Without having a coffee grader who can assess your coffee after every roast, your offering could be inconsistent and drive away customers without you even knowing why. 

Very few coffee businesses have the resources or expertise to control their value chain from crop to cup. This is the reason why so many hotels and restaurants in Uganda have dark, oily coffee that sits in their hopper untouched until a desperate coffee lover like us makes the mistake of ordering an americano. It’s also the reason why a cappuccino or African coffee (coffee with milk) is often the most popular choice for those who dare to drink the black beans. 

At One Tribe Coffee, we are privileged to have our own roasting machine, overseen by two capable roasters, and an in-house coffee grader. We only roast coffee from our trusted suppliers, in small batches to maintain quality, and we seal, brand, package, and deliver it to our clients who own their own cafes or internal corporate coffee shops, taking away all the headaches for them. If you are looking for a good quality, affordable coffee supply for your business, contact us for wholesale.

Pictures: coffee being sorted at a processing station. Right: a Specialty Coffee Association-Standard coffee cupping session with The Coffee Gardens.

The coffee challenge in Uganda will not solve itself in one day. Our mission at One Tribe Coffee is to see ‘Every African Drinking African Coffee’. In order to move the needle on coffee consumption, we need everyone in the coffee industry to adopt the mission of increasing awareness and consumption. There are so many potential investment opportunities, but not enough people know about them. 

Just like we are proud of our rolex and Waragi’s status, coffee needs to be included in our story. Companies and hospitality businesses should insist on serving Ugandan coffee at their establishments. Event coordinators should insist that only Ugandan coffee and not imported instant coffee be served at conferences. And when we go visit people out of the country, how about gifting them with a bag of proudly Ugandan coffee?  We all have a role to play and ultimately, it’s not only the farmers who will benefit from increased incomes, but everyone along the value chain. As coffee knowledge grows, we get a chance to tell our story… And it is a good story.