By Julius Mugaga Tukacungurwa/ Umoja Standard.
Kampala, Uganda: On Saturday, Umoja Standard News Agency paid a courtesy visit to the Managing Director Kulture Coffee, Aine Glen. During the conversation with the youthful MD, the Agency sought to understand a wide range of things around coffee in Uganda.
On a bright morning in areas of Kisaasi, a peripheral town of Kampala, the MD sat down our report and shared the following.
With mushrooming coffee businesses within Kampala and Uganda at large, Aine centered his views on building a coffee culture in Uganda. He suggested that small coffee businesses should collaborate to create a coffee culture in Uganda, encouraging them to establish coffee shops in close proximity to attract more customers.
He highlighted the importance of specialty coffee and the challenges of educating consumers about quality and freshness. He raised concerns about coffee losing its desirable attributes when stored for too long, prompting the exploration of a model for delivering freshly roasted coffee directly to customers.
Aine emphasized that during the coffee value chain, there should be fair compensation for farmers and on the other side, he highlighted the significance of proper brewing methods to enhance consumer experience and this way, he believed, we shall build the coffee culture in our country, Uganda.
Aine cited the significance of Informal training for farmers to improve production and economic outcomes, alongside efforts to enhance living standards in villages. ‘Our focus should be on empowering farmers and promoting local coffee consumption, stressing the need for fair compensation and the superiority of ground coffee over instant varieties.
Asked what he’s doing at Kulture Coffee for them to thrive, Aine says, they’re exploring a model where customers can order freshly roasted coffee, which will be delivered to them, ensuring they receive coffee at its freshest state in addition to actively seek customer feedback to inform product development, considering requests for new coffee formats such as coffee bags.
On the sourcing question, Aine says the company sources coffee from various regions in Uganda, including partnerships with farmers and cooperatives, such as the Ankole Coffee Cooperative in Sheema, to ensure quality and traceability of their coffee products.
He stressed that this they do to comply with the new EU regulations requiring transparency in sourcing coffee, ensuring that it is not linked to deforestation or environmental harm.
The News Agency also sought to understand how they manage to test quality of coffee in case one felt like having it, Aine stated that they use the cupping process to evaluate coffee based on various attributes such as taste, aftertaste, fragrance, aroma, acidity, and flavor. He also emphasized the meticulous quality control process they follow, which includes cupping to assess various flavor attributes and customer preferences.
Uganda being a coffee producing country, we need to be taught some things about Coffee types and their Characteristics, Aine mentioned that they offer a single origin, 100% Arabica coffee from Eastern Mbale and Kapchorwa, as well as 100% Robusta and a blend of 60% Arabica and 40% Robusta, highlighting the caffeine differences and flavor profiles.
Asked about Brewing Methods and Equipment, Aine expressed disappointment that consumers often prepare coffee by simply adding hot water, missing out on the full flavor and experience that proper brewing methods can provide and advised that they would have a brewing equipment at home say french press or make an order from any coffee shop to have coffee that has undergone espresso to get all attributes of good coffee.
During the conversation, we noticed a concern on building sustainable Coffee production in villages which Aine concurred with emphasizing evident poor living standards in villages and the inadequate income farmers receive from their coffee production, which is insufficient to sustain their households.
“Farmers often produce around 20 kilos of coffee from their small plots, which can yield significantly more income than they currently receive, illustrating the potential for better earnings. There’s need to empower farmers and promote local coffee consumption because farmers are being exploited and not given a fair chance to become wealthy, which is detrimental to the development of their villages.” He highlighted.
“There is a concern that consumers are being misled into believing that instant coffee is superior, leading to overcharging for inferior products.” He added.
Aine Glen is a youth whose coffee business (Kulture Coffee) is thriving and winning preference of many Ugandans.
In 2022, Uganda exported $753 million worth of coffee, with Italy, Germany, the United States, Spain, and Morocco being the main destinations.
Export Volume, Coffee exports for July were projected to be 600,000 bags, with a total of 6.26 million bags exported in the 2021/22 financial year.
Uganda’s coffee exports reached a record-breaking $1.14 billion in value, the highest in 30 years.
The government plans to spend Shs35bn on registering coffee farmers to comply with EU regulations.
The European Union has implemented new regulations on coffee exports from Uganda, requiring farmers to provide detailed land-use maps and GPS coordinates to prove deforestation-free production.