Episode #005: Coffee Origin: Uganda, Part one

Nick & Linda Castle of CLO Coffee went to Uganda to visit the people who grow speciality coffee which we import and roast. The washing station was started just 3 years ago as a way of connecting small holding farmers to the biggest exporter of coffee in Uganda. Ensuring that with good processing the would get paid a good price.

In 2019 Nick & Linda Castle of CLO Coffee visited the coffee farmers who are growing the coffee they roast in the uk at their roastery in Leeds. The Kisinga Washing Station in the Rwenzori Mountains, was established only 2-3 years ago. Generations of people have been growing high altitude arabica coffee throughout the Rwenzori mountains. So the coffee is high quality speciality, but until recently wasn’t being sold for a high premium due.

The main reason the coffee wasn’t yielding a high premium was because all the coffee is being grown in really small lots (back gardens) of all the people living around the mountains. The coffee drying and processing in small lots in their gardens meant the consistency of the quality of the coffees brought together wasn’t as high as it should be. 

The coffee in the area was known historically known as Drugar. Which was all because of this poor access to processing high grade coffee. 

When the Kisinga Washing Station opened by Jonny Rowland and a group of local people connected in Kisinga, they saw the potential of the coffee with a good processing facility. They talked with the biggest exporter of coffee in Uganda, and agreed that if they buy and process the coffee from hundreds farmers in the area, they will export it all through their channels. 

Three years on, and the quality of the coffee is consistently mid 80s (speciality grade) and farmers are being paid more than ever before, in cash when they pick their crop.