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Uganda Coffee Overview

Although Uganda is Africa's second-largest coffee-producing country, 90% of its beans are Robusta and only 10% are Arabica.

What's more, political instability in recent years has made the supply source less than steady. If you like Ugandan beans, enjoy them as much as you can while you can.

Aroma Profile

The aroma after grinding:

First impression - fragrant but not sweet, with deep, light, and elegant floral notes.

Second impression - a direct upward aroma strikingly similar to smelling the stamens of lilies.

Third impression - after it settles, an aroma of freshly baked cookies.

After siphon brewing, the aroma cup releases both floral and sweet notes, like pollen when flowers are in full bloom.

Tasting Experience

At high temperature, the florals are still there but not as intense as they were on the nose.

At medium temperature, it resembles dark cocoa without the sweetness. The glow spreads from the tongue to the throat, then exits through the nasal cavity, finally revealing some tobacco notes.

At low temperature, milky flavors gradually emerge. It grows more acidic as it cools, and the tobacco notes from the end of the medium range gradually intensify.

Overall, this is a coffee with florals that isn't overly sweet - a very pleasant cup.

Future Prospects

In Uganda, Arabica accounts for only 10% of total coffee output, but that is enough to draw attention. Uganda's best coffee comes mainly from the Mount Elgon region and the Bugisu region along the Kenyan border to the north, as well as the Rwenzori mountains in the west. This coffee is available for export each January or February.

The equator crosses Uganda, and its suitable climate makes it one of the world's main Robusta-producing regions. In the 1960s, Uganda's coffee production held at 3.5 million bags a year. By the mid-1980s, mainly for political reasons, production had fallen to 250,000 bags a year. Today it is trending upward again, at roughly 3 million bags annually. One of the industry's main problems is the lack of good roads to move coffee to ports such as Mombasa in Kenya or Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Uganda Coffee Bean Selection

To improve quality and reduce costs, in November 1990 Uganda abolished the Coffee Marketing Board's (CMB) exclusive franchise. Most of the work once handled by the CMB has now passed to cooperative organizations. Export income from privatized coffee accounts for two-thirds of the national total, so the government taxes the coffee industry in hopes of raising much-needed revenue. That backfired, however, causing a 20% decline in coffee exports and worsening smuggling.

Like Tanzania, rising coffee prices in recent years have encouraged farm owners to return to their plantations, with once-abandoned land reclaimed for coffee. Ugandan beans show great promise.

Unique Tribal Coffee Bean: Bugisu

Tribal Name: Bugisu

Origin: Mt. Elgon Region, Uganda, Africa

Green Beans: Organic HB (Organic Certified Hard Bean)

Flavor Profile: Rustic and heavy-bodied

Notes: The Bugisu tribe lives in the Mount Elgon region and has become a community of expert coffee farmers. Thanks to the pristine natural environment, their production has received organic certification, which is special. Because the mountain terrain is steep and there are almost no proper roads during the rainy season, transport is difficult - but the Bugisu people use donkeys to move green beans, solving the problem. (India uses elephants to transport coffee beans.) So every time I drink Ugandan coffee, I feel a particularly raw, passionate connection to coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Uganda's rustic, heavy-bodied character appeals to you, FrontStreet Papua New Guinea Paradise Bird is a natural next cup. Grown at the Paradise Bird estate in PNG's Sigri region on volcanic soil at 1,600-1,800 meters, it uses the same Typica variety as Blue Mountain - which is why fans nicknamed it "Little Blue Mountain." With a three-times washed and fermented process, it is clean, purely sweet, and full-bodied, a great option for anyone who prefers low-acid coffee.

For a brighter, more floral pour-over, FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Guodingding is a perfect first stop into specialty coffee: vivid citrus, berry, and floral notes with a green-tea sweetness, and acidity that is gentle and bright rather than sharp.

And if you like the savory, juicy end of the spectrum, FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato brings sun-dried tomato and dark-plum acidity with pear, black plum, brown sugar, and a light green-tea finish - a crisp, complex, juice-like cup from Kenya's classic SL28 and SL34 varieties, washed over a 72-hour double-fermentation.