COFFEE TOUR IN KAPCHORWA

“May I please have a cup of coffee?” or “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

Coffee; the lesser appreciated hot beverage in Uganda. Tea; my least favourite hot beverage since I discovered Ugandan coffee.

Most of us in Uganda are raised taking tea as the first-choice hot beverage: at home, when you visit friends, in the village, in restaurants, blah blah blah! And when you’re offered coffee, well, its instant coffee from a boring tin/can/whatever. It doesn’t have to be that way anymore.

Over the past few years, many Ugandans have developed a keen interest in and genuine desire for Ugandan coffee. Arabica coffee to be exact. This has resulted in establishment of a noticeable number of coffee shops within the major towns. Restaurants too, are now serving freshly brewed Arabica coffee just the way it should be.

One of the birth places of Arabica coffee is the slopes of Mt. Elgon in Kapchorwa. And I was privileged to be taken on a coffee tour right at the source of all this goodness. Believe me, nothing beats a “home” coffee shop up in the mountains, lost in banana and coffee plantations. And the fun part was making it from scratch, we’ve got real talent among us:

1. Find talent in the hidden homesteads

2. A tale of the seedling and the berry

3. Focus on the berry a little longer

4. Pound the dried coffee berries to get off the husks

5. Winnow the ground berries to get rid of the husks

6. Coffee beans ready for roasting

7. Firewood doing its thing

8. Grinding the Coffee beans to powder

9. Perfectly ground

10. Where the cups at?

11. There there you go

12. To sieve or not to sieve?

13. Milk anyone?

14. The perfect cup and rich aroma to match it

15. Cheers mate!

Let’s give tea a break and enjoy some freshly brewed Ugandan arabica coffee.

Cheers!