A trip to visit a Bugisu area coffee cooperative
I went on a brief trip to UgandaWhile Arabica was introduced at the beginning of the 1900's, Robusta coffee is indigenous to the country, and has been a part of Ugandan life for centuries. The... (2009). We met Charles Angebault, who has a project with a cooperative near Mbale named, rather comically, CoffeeACup coop. Okay, I know you are dying to know … it stands for Community Organized Farmers From Elgon Escarpment ArabicaArabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the taxonomic species name of the genus responsible for around 75% of the worlds commercial coffee crop.: Arabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the... Coffee Uganda Program!
Actually it was supposed to have only one “E” after coffee, but it was mistranscribed to they thought up “Escarpment” to justify the additional E. Uganda has potential, but there is much quality work to do in harvesting and drying of coffee. Most farmers never drink coffee here … in fact many don’t know exactly what coffee is used for. Because it is ground into powder, and because the government long ago would trade coffee for guns when they lacked money to pay for it, farmers actually believe coffee is ground and made into gunpowder!
We met Mathias, the inspired and inspiring leader of the CoffeeACup cooperative, and Joselyn who is the development director, and I found them to be extremely intelligent, intuitive and motivated. I really hope this porject pans out, and we can elevate the quality as well as introduce small lot, farmer-specific Uganda coffee in this next harvest season.
Aleco from Stumptown was the first visitor here, and he encouraged us to check out this project and to become involved, so a big thanks to him for what amounted to a few great days of coffee travel, camping out in tents, eating fresh omelets and local foods all day, and making some new friends … as well as meeting 10,000 smiling Bugisu children, all who must be photographed and then you must show each their photo on the digital camera.
It was great fun. I felt like I was in a parade for 4 days, waving and greeting everyone we passed. Ah! -Tom
Uganda Charles House in Kampala; GPS Image -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Camp near Bududu, GPS Image -Sweet Maria’s Uganda CoffeeACup Office -GPS Image -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – GPS Image at 1700 meters -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – Like all good trips to africa, they start in Amsterdam -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – Africa via AMS, with a couple good beers at De Wildeman to help with jet lag. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – MMMmmmmeat. Between Entebbe and Kampala -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – Unisex is everywhere. But what are Tongs? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Cycle Centre and Minimalist Artist -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – We all need them -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Between Entebbe and Kampala, -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – If you can have a restaurant, why not a rest bar? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Jackfruit in Kampala -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Memorial to the general who was shot by his “take away” lover -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Max Fleischer, watch out. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Don’t mess with the Blessed Van -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – School, it’s an international bummer -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – New uses for paint? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Blessed Unisex Salon and Jesus Cares Stationary Shop -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – sage advice -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Almost good enough to ride. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Yeeps, Mashallah needs a new line of work. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Freedum never looked so dumb. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffin Art. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Well, good for you! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sunset near Bududa Uganda -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sunrise in the coffee lands -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Early morning near view of Uganda coffee farms -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Forest over coffee trees -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Jeremy makes coffee in the AM -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The camp near Bududa -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Omelets, every day, -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Incredible breakfast at the camp -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Mathias and his mom -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The CoffeeACup Coop group, at the camp site -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – more rad Bugisu kids -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Mother of Mathias and grand daughter -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – More shots of the camp site scene near Bududa -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Calves of coffee calendar, coming soon -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Bugisu kids at the capsite. One had paper stuck to his forehead (!) -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Do you remember your first iphone moment? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The elders, at the Bududa camp site -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Meat in B&W -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The famous gateway bus service of Bududa -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – More meat at the market. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Roadside low grade coffee -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Crazy English Lesson. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Joselyn, the development director for the coop, and their coffee map -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee lot traceability, as simple as a sheet of spiral paper -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – CoffeeACup membership photo card -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Mathias with a traceability form. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sorting coffee at Kawacom -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee Poseur at Kawacom -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Would you take this bus? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – A little Bugisu affirmation -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Hillsides viewed from Bududa -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – A Habbit or a Hobbit? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Nasty coffee at Kawacom , which is part of a multinational -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Patient listeners at the coop meeting -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – CoffeeACup cooperative representatives that met with us. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – CoffeeACup cooperative meeting -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – I asked them all to “throw their hands in the air, and wave ’em like you just don’t care” -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Bududa town, in the Mbale coffee region -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee farmer baby. Clearly, they could use a better price for their coffee! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Bududa market shops -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – One for the chickens of coffee calendar -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Showing off parchment coffee. Wacoye Moses of the Buco group, Number 0023 in CoffeeACup Coop. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Pothead and friends near Bududa -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Parchment coffee dried at the smallholder farm. Wacoye Moses of the Buco group -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Red beans that the coffee producers grow -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Boniface Bruro and his hand coffee pulper, member of the Nashura Sub-coop -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Manual coffee pulper. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Milton Mahoy of the the Nabusai Group -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Milton was patching his house with pitch mixture -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Old typica type coffee trees near the animal stall -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Chimanay Mika of the Nabusai sub-coop -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Old coffee trees -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Typical Uganda coffee garden -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – typical home in Mbale Bugisu area. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Local coffee nursery -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Pretty flowers show pride in humble homes -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Isawa Namwa and her coffee nursery. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sleeping dogs of Uganda -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Local Bugisu Lady… -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sleeping dog redux -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Nusu peak near Bududa -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John Marunga in the Bushebuya coffee area. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee ready to harvest soon on the Bushebuya estate -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John’s interesting longeberry coffee parchment -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John and his SL-28 seed tree -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – “SL-28 seed tree” which they call Nyasiland or Nyasaland -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John and his SL-28 tree -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John has a rental house he is building enar the Mt. Elgon national park -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John and his crew -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Kids and tomatos in Busheboya -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Kid of Bushebuya -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – Kids and cabbages -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Namesi John’s neighbor, also called Namesi John (Matanda). -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – 1600+ meter coffee in Bushebuya -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Creek that marks the start of Mount Elgon national park -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Recent road building project in the Bushebuya area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Chickens of Bushebuya -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Kids and practionaers of Musambwa religion dressed in white -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Charles Angebault, or “Beautiful Angel”. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Uganda loves Obama! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Jeremy and old coffee trees in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee flowers on older trees in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – More local smiles… -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Typica trees in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Over 1700 meters in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Old man, old house -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Banana leaf roof on shed in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Young coffee tree and flowers -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – A good place to dry clothes. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – New crop coffee flowers -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Chameleon on a coffee branch -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – World’s happiest kids! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Typical garden coffee in Uganda, with interplanted banana -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – More smiles in Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Dogs of Uganda, Namaumba area -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Graves by the home. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Next crop ripening on the trees -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Chinese motorcycle, Ugandan decor -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Roses and coffee, by the house -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – beans drying in the rafters -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Meat house. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Another view of the same hunk o’ meet -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Ah, Angibault -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Banana plantation near the coffee -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Ruffled feathers, chickens of coffee. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – New crop coffee blossoms, vertical view -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – New crop coffee blossoms -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Unripe coffee cherry after the rain -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Jeremy Tooker and his new chick … just before it pecked at his eye. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Unripe coffee cherry, view two -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Local farmers and their sons. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Local farmers, vertical view -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Princess and her friends -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Beautiful Inside, Gorgeous Outside. I agree. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Great advertising ideas, near Mbale -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sleeping baby strikes again. Thumbs up! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – So damn happy. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Obama my dream? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Great notices. “If you do not have something to do, don’t do it from here!” -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Lunch and coffee in the aeropress, Mbale -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – View from Sipi Falls overlook -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The famous Sipi Falls -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Valley landscape across the Elgon Escarpment -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Another view of Sipi Falls -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Closeup of the falls -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Another set of falls higher up -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – “The Hills Are Alive…” -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Soloman and Jerry do their Tuff Guy pose. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The resident spazz… -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Great gorilla art -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Bizarre statue at Wimpy Hotel in Mbale -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Wimpy Hotel, where we stayed in Mbale -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Papyrus plains between Mbale and Kampala -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – More Freedum -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Hecka lotta Super -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The great crane of Uganda, caught trash picking… -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Zain + Security Guard -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Jeremy and new friends. I think the guy in yellow is kinda swell on Jer. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Samona Jelly gives you a European baby? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The luck comes when it actually works -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – I scored his telephone number. Woo! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Healthy Magnetic Cup -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – I guess I share the name of Falls in Uganda. Who knew… -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – More ominous Sleeping Baby -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sugar cane blocking the road… -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – Can’t get away from damn Sleeping Baby! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Geisha from Uganda! -Sweet Maria’s 
Uganda – Never enough to induce food poisoning, likely. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Chart B includes Tany Oils, Bunni and Pulp Nipped! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Grow up and stop hitting women. But what’s with the matching shirts? -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Chart A has Kiboko, Chalky Whites and Blacks! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Naughty looking Robusta at Ugacof headquarters in Kampala -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Cupping at Ugacof -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Pinhalense roaster. -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Mmmm… looks like great coffee! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Incoming lots for cupping -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Coffee bags in the warehouse -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Drugar, which I think is low grade washed coffee, since Mbuni is natural coffee -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – More coffee bags… so much coffee! -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Jeremy pulls a stunt -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Sorting coffee in a Ugacof warehouse -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Cocoa in the corner, at Ugacof Kampala -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Cocoa nibs, also traded by Ugacof -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – Another view of coffee sorting -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – The Ugacof facility -Sweet Maria’s Uganda – A mesage in the Entebbe Airport. Guess you can’t escape the warnings here… -Sweet Maria’s
Also see:
Uganda Coffee Journey: Uganda Go To The Rwenzoris
Burundi Coffee in Permanent Crisis
