We're Happy That You're Here: Uganda Mbale Bufumbo Origin Coffee
Having a sense of community over the past few years has gone through a few phases for me. When the world shut down, switching to virtual and over the phone interactions with my loved ones wasn’t all too painful; I had honed my long distance communication as a teenager when I spent a good chunk of my time on AIM and Yahoo Messenger chat room with friends I made on an online music forum. But as the stresses of the pandemic continued, showing up slowly became harder. Trying to keep up with everyone started to feel tiring and overwhelming, and instead I began to lean into conversation with smaller circles of friends. I had to learn how to be okay with showing up at fifty percent capacity and how to take space for myself.
Earlier this month, two of my friends had finally tied the knot, and their wedding was the opposite of wedding formalities I had become accustomed to: it was a weekend celebration of both their next chapter as a married couple, and a celebration of their long standing community. If anything, their union was a reason for gathering their friends and family to spend quality time together doing outdoor activities, relaxing, eating well, and enjoying one another’s company. This was very fitting since, afterall, the couple had developed a fondness for one another over the years by planning and participating in group activities with their friends.
The weekend was designed for folks to come as they are and participate in any of the organized group activities that interested them. We hope you eat breakfast with all of us! Don’t want to join the bike ride afterwards? Cool, there’s plenty of snacks and some comfy couches if you want to chill with others who are staying. Need some time alone and wanna split off for a while? No problem, we’ll meet up with you later. Thanks for spending time with us. We’re happy that you’re here.
It felt like everyone at the wedding had recently come out of hibernation and was excited to see one another, to meet new faces and explore new places. It reminded me of the excitement we had when we started to feel the world was slowly, slowly opening back up–at a time when we needed assurance that the world is only getting brighter, and right around the time Jamada Kiyemba reached out to us over a year ago. Jamada had the opportunity to be in the Bay Area for a little bit, and he asked if we’d be interested in meeting him to learn more about his coffee operations in Uganda. This was during a time when we adhered to strict protocols in our spaces and didn’t allow non-employees to enter our roastery. But we found a simple solution to our challenges in meeting in person: we met with Jamada and his business partner Liza outside the roastery, offered them some coffee, and moved our meeting to the back of the pick up truck that we hitch our coffee trailer to. It seemed hilarious to us at the time, but looking back, we were simply grateful to just share some space together. We had spent so much time connecting with others over Zoom, and meeting face to face at that moment demonstrated to us that we could still build relationships just like before.
We do what we can! Corey, Michael, Jamada, and Corazon having a meeting on the back of the pick up truck we use to haul our coffee trailer. We’re glad Liza insisted on taking a photo.
Jamada, a former chemist and steadfast coffee drinker, shifted his career path when he realized that there was potential for Ugandan coffee. Uganda is second to Ethiopia as the largest coffee producer in Africa, but it’s not as appreciated and well known abroad and in the country. This is slowly changing: market liberalization in the coffee sector has allowed Ugandan coffee to develop more as a global coffee origin while also encouraging consumers in the country to drink more coffee.
Jamada founded Origin Coffee in 2016 and has a mission of increasing the popularity of Ugandan coffee domestically and internationally. While he roasts coffee in the city of Kampala and supplies cafes with beans in four other cities, he also exports specialty coffee to the US and Canada. Origin works directly with small farmer cooperatives to source coffee for both the domestic and international market. His efforts help increase revenue to farmers by 20-30 cents per pound of coffee bought.
Some members of the Bufumbo Organic Farmers Association. The group is composed of over 1000 smallholder coffee growers.
From the samples we received from Jamada, we landed on a coffee produced by the Bufumbo Organic Farmers Association (BOFA) in the Bufumbo Village, Mbale district, located at the base of Mount Elgon. BOFA has been in operation since 1997, and was founded to help improve the livelihood of people in Bufumbo area. BOFA has developed a savings and credit cooperative organization to assist in producer funding. They work with grocers to help improve farming methods and implement organic practices. They also provide coffee seedlings to its members through a nursery bed project to give all members access to more plants. Beyond coffee, BOFA promotes energy conservation by making charcoal briquettes from waste, and sharing information on the prevention of STDs and HIV in the community.
For this washed coffee, ripe cherries are taken to the Buginyanya washing station where coffee is pulped and fermented in water for 18 hours before being fully washed and dried. This coffee reminds us of key lime, white tea, and turbinado sugar. Served black, it goes down pretty smoothly and delicately, with hints of florality coming through. With a little cream and sugar, it’s easy going and more tea-like. If you’d like a heftier cup, adding another few grams of ground coffee to the brewer will do just the trick.
In more ways than one, it seems fitting to have this Ugandan coffee as our featured holiday coffee. Taste wise, its subtleties can excite those who like exploring single origins, and can please family members at the breakfast table who want an easy, smooth cup of coffee. On a more sentimental note, this coffee is a reminder to us that connection to people doesn’t always have to be constant. Sometimes, we need to take a step back before we can have the energy to find joy in where we are and what we have to look forward to. However you choose to spend your holidays this year, I hope you find yourself with community and find comfort in knowing that however you arrive, your presence is welcome. We’re happy that you’re here.
