We work with 14 partners worldwide, from who we source our coffee. In Uganda, we work together with Ndugu. On this page you can find everything you need to know about this collaboration.

OUR
PARTNERSHIP.

We are proud to add Ndugu farmers and the Kalisizo cooperative to our partnership list. In our quest for high quality robusta we are very happy to have stumbled upon Bless and Martijn some years ago. And as with all good relationships, it took some time to materialize. In May 2024 we visited Masaka and took time to dive deep into how the coffee industry in this region works before we decided on shaking hands and embarking on a joint adventure. We visited cooperatives, individual farmers and nurseries. We discussed quality, farm practices, climate change and more.  We are Ndugu’s first direct export partner. With a strong focus on quality improvement and higher income for farmers we have a perfect mix to build for the years to come.

THE
CHANGEMAKER.

This is Bless. He is every bit as joyful as the picture suggests. With a background in business he is relatively new in coffee. Although he comes from a coffee growers family and knew exactly what he was running away from. Now he has found his love for coffee and coffee production. Through a sharp but impact centered business focus he believes that Ndugu farmers can succeed where NGO’s have failed: improve the lives of farmers in a sustainable and lasting way. If you want to learn more about this stellar change maker, click here to read the interview with Bless.

THE COFFEE.

Uganda is mainly known for high volumes of robusta coffee. When considering Uganda for high quality coffee, the arabica, grown in places like mount Elgon in the north east, springs to mind. And of course our customers will think of our amazing coffee from Zombo in the north west. However, more than 80% of coffee production in Uganda is made up of robusta. Uganda is the fifth largest producer of robusta globally. And in our opinion at least top three when it comes to quality. So no wonder that in our quest for specialty robusta we landed in Masaka. The coffee produced by Kalisizo cooperative near the shores of lake Victoria has never been sold as high quality robusta before and has never been consumed as a single origin coffee in the Netherlands. Together with Ndugu farmers we are changing that. The coffee is spicy and has subtle notes of molasses, dried fruits and dark chocolate. 

THE
COUNTRY.

Uganda as a coffee producing country is a diamond in the rough. Landlocked between Sudan and Congo in the West, Kenya in the East and Rwanda and Tanzania in the south it is in the heart of the East African coffee production region. It is one of the largest robusta-producing countries in the world, grown in the low lying central and south-western regions of the country. Arabica grows on higher elevations in the West and North-East. It is also one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in Africa. Farmers in Uganda struggle greatly with changing climate, causing unpredictable rains and droughts. For the sales of their coffee they are largely dependent on a network of local middlemen buying and reselling the coffee primarily focused on their own short-term profit, leaving farmers in the dark.