Uganda — Where Robusta Thrives

In the specialty coffee market, coffee from Kenya and Ethiopia is widely available, while coffee from Uganda remains relatively rare. Yet Uganda is the largest coffee exporter on the African continent. With its rich history, there is plenty to discover. We take a closer look at this still-underappreciated coffee-producing country.

At the Berlin Coffee Festival around 2017, we met Stephan Katongole, a former consultant from Baden-Baden who had decided to take over his family’s farm in Uganda. In the early 2010s, he left Germany to grow, harvest, and process high-quality Robusta coffee. In 2019, we received our first shipment from Katongole. His washed Robusta became part of our popular Tiga Terra. In 2022, we took things a step further and launched our first Robusta filter coffee as a single origin. It bears the name of its farmer: Stephan Katongole.

So there’s a good chance you’ve already tasted coffee from Uganda. While the country doesn’t exclusively grow Robusta, it is particularly known for this variety. There are historical reasons for this: Robusta is indigenous to Uganda and has been growing there for centuries. It was only in the early 20th century that the British, as the colonial power, introduced Arabica plants to Uganda. The idea was for them to serve as a “cash crop” with the simple purpose of financing the British Empire, just as palm oil, tea, and cotton did. Although many of the Arabica trees failed to survive, the cultivation and export of Robusta increased at the same time.

Arabica is still grown in Uganda today, but Robusta clearly dominates due to the country’s climatic conditions. Particularly in the lower-lying regions of the Central Lowlands extending to Lake Victoria and in Western Uganda, high-yield Robusta harvests take place twice a year. These harvests have played a major role in making Uganda Africa’s largest coffee exporter. In 1925, coffee accounted for just 1% of Uganda’s total annual exports. By 2017, that figure had risen to 18%. Uganda alone accounts for 7% of global Robusta exports. In 2021, coffee exports from Uganda reached their highest level in 30 years.

However, Africa’s largest coffee producer is not Uganda, but Ethiopia. How can that be? Ethiopia does harvest more coffee, but it also consumes more domestically. In Uganda, by contrast, tea is by far the more popular beverage. (The legacy of British colonial rule is still visible today.) But this seems to be slowly changing, as is the reputation of Ugandan coffee and the Robusta variety.

For decades, the rumor has persisted that the species Coffea canephora and its best-known variety, Robusta, are inferior to Arabica coffee. But how can that actually be measured? The comparison is flawed, after all, because Robusta and Arabica are two different species — it’s essentially a comparison of apples and oranges. Arabica offers different qualities than Robusta, and vice versa. Arabica coffee generally has more complex flavor notes and is more nuanced overall than Robusta. Robusta, on the other hand, often tastes nutty, earthy, slightly bitter, and reminiscent of dark chocolate. Robusta is particularly popular in Italy, as the statistics also show: In 2021, Uganda was Italy’s largest coffee supplier, overtaking Vietnam for the first time. In this article, our roaster Robert explores further differences between Arabica and Robusta.

Our Robusta filter coffee, harvested and processed by Stephan Katongole on his farm in Sembabule, has distinct notes of 90% dark chocolate, malt, and dark honey. So if you prefer fruity or floral coffees, it’s worth easing into Robusta gradually, starting with small steps. But especially for fans of darker roasts with notes of chocolate and nuts, our “Stephan Katongole” filter coffee could be a real treat.

In addition to the lack of technical equipment, there was also a lack of quality training in Uganda, which did little to improve the reputation of Ugandan coffee. The growing popularity of the product can also be explained by the changes that have taken place within Uganda: with more quality training and increasing investment, coffee has become an increasingly popular export product. That doesn’t mean, however, that government policies have always made things easy for producers.

Uganda has a turbulent history, and not only when it comes to coffee. In 1929, the Coffee Industry Board was established, and in 1969 — following the country’s independence — it was given the authority to control coffee prices. During Idi Amin’s brutal regime, coffee remained a strong and essential part of Uganda’s export market and experienced a major boom following the Brazilian frost of 1975. Throughout the 1980s, however, increasing amounts of coffee were smuggled across the country’s borders and sold in neighboring countries at higher prices than those officially permitted by the government. In response, the Coffee Industry Board raised the prices paid to farmers for their coffee in 1988. This didn’t last long: just a few months later, the Coffee Industry Board went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the government. To make Ugandan coffee more competitive on the global market, prices were lowered. As a result, production fell by 20%. Droughts and a shift toward other “cash crops,” such as fruit, added to the problem.

In the early 1990s, coffee production and exports were liberalized. As Stephan Katongole already mentioned, quality initially suffered. At the same time, however, producers were given the opportunity to develop their own brands and gradually build their reputation. They were supported in this by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, which promotes greater transparency and facilitates access to the Ugandan coffee market.

For many years, Uganda was also a member of the International Coffee Organization (ICO). In early 2022, however, the national coffee community was shaken when the government decided to withdraw from the organization. The reasons cited included high membership fees and other barriers. While some producers feared being left with their harvests, others were optimistic that they would now have more control over their own product. Stephan Katongole remains relaxed:

“As far as exports themselves are concerned, not much will change. Before, you got your certificate from the ICO; now you get it from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). I don’t know how they’re going to handle it. We’re trying to do our own thing here.”

Stephan Katongole and other farmers specializing in “fine Robusta” are on a promising path — even without the support of the ICO. Thanks to high-quality processing, growing access to quality training, and greater international awareness of the characteristics of Robusta, or Canephora, Uganda is more successful as a coffee exporter than ever before. We’ll do our part to help Robusta continue its rise.