- Event attracted coffee roasters, importers and diplomats
- Coffee is Uganda's leading foreign exchange earner
- Organizers are targeting US retail chain structure
Government of Uganda has been asked to support initiative that will see the value chain of coffee increase and change the lives of the farmers in the country.
The call was made by Mr. Nelson Tugume, CEO of Inspire Africa coffee in the US during the Coffee cupping and tasting event organized by Uganda’s Embassy in Washington DC in the United States.
Tugume called for more Ugandan coffees to get into the United States retail chain structure at fairer prices, adding that it is his dream to ensure that there are Ugandan coffee shops all over the United He informed the attendees that Coffee is an item used to seal relationships and underscore close friendships in Uganda.
The event attracted coffee roasters, coffee importers and coffee shop businesses and diplomats in the Washington, DC area, who were curious about Robusta coffee that grows natively in Uganda.
In her remarks, Deputy Chief of Mission Ambassador Santa Mary Laker-Kinyera, explained that for Uganda, Coffee is woven into the very fabric of not just the economy but the culture.
Coffee is a main cash crop of Uganda and the biggest foreign exchange earner,and among the top five products exported to the United States from Uganda.
She noted that under commercial diplomacy, all staff at the embassy are required to ensure that Ugandan products are promoted, tangibly and stocked on the shelves of stores in the USA and Ugandan coffee served in coffee cups in US restaurants.
“Uganda is not only a good place to do business, but one in which an investor will get the highest return on their investment” She said.
The embassy partnered with Inspire Africa Coffee , the Africa Coffee Bureau a company founded by a group of Ugandans in Silver Spring city, United States to promote African coffees, cocoas, vanillas, teas and tourism, and the Education Advisory Council for the Specialty Coffee Association SCA to put together the event.
Mr. Todd Arnett an Authorized SCA Trainer AST and a Quality Assurance instructor at the American Academy of Coffee Excellence in Williamsburg, Virginia described Uganda’s Robusta as “Uganda’s best kept secret”.
He applauded the participation of the Africa Coffee Bureau that has helped to, discover niche markets that will reinvent African Robusta competitiveness in the enormously Arabica-dominated United States
Uganda is the leading producer of Robusta and second largest producer of Arabica coffee, after Ethiopia, in Africa
Robusta is grown at altitudes ranging from 900-1,500m above sea level making Ugandan coffee to possess very good intrinsic qualities and has a remarkably impressive cup when wet processed.