South Korea-based Caffè Bene, a global coffee house, has agreed to buy graded coffee from members of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE), an umbrella organisation that promotes value addition and teamwork among coffee farmers in Uganda.
A team comprising Caffè Bene senior managers and agribusiness consultants was in Uganda recently to undertake background checks within the farming communities in different regions, coffee processing facilities and perform coffee tasting to ascertain the quality parameters and determine price offers.
Caffè Bene is present in over 1,600 locations worldwide.
According to Choo Seung Min, a coffee Barista and team business manager at Caffè Bene, Uganda’s coffee scores highly on quality, a basis that will give farmers leverage in negotiating good prices.
“We have moved across the country and ascertained the quality controls that farmers undertake while growing coffee.
We are further convinced by the processing and grading of the coffee, as well as the taste,” Choo said in an interview after a tasting exercise held at Café Omukago, NUCAFE’s coffee shop in Kampala.
Choo described his company’s move to start buying coffee from Uganda as a key milestone, especially because the firm has played a role in uplifting and encouraging Uganda’s smallholder farmers.
