Coffee time!
Visiting a coffee plantation in Uganda
You know how I love my coffee? Well this experience captured the soul of it, from the ground up.
Visiting a coffee plantation near Queen Elizabeth National Park felt uniquely special because so much of Ugandan culture, traditions, and local life is wrapped up in it. I joined a guided tour at one of the community-run farms near Kyambura Gorge, known locally as the “Valley of the Apes,” just outside the park’s boundaries.
The guide warmly welcomed me into the plantation (like every other warm welcome I received in Uganda). The plantation was set among lush hillsides with green coffee bushes sprawling in neat rows. Walking through the plantation was both peaceful and engaging, as he enthusiastically shared the farm’s history and explained the entire coffee journey—from planting and harvesting to roasting and brewing.
As we moved through the tour, it became more of a hands-on experience. I actually got to pick ripe coffee cherries right from the branches. Later, I watched (and tried my hand at!) pulping and drying the beans in the traditional Ugandan way, using simple wooden equipment. It was messy, and I was terrible at it, but I laughed until my sides hurt.
The smell of freshly roasted beans filled the air as we gathered around the roasting pan, which the guide handled with practiced ease. Finally, sipping a steaming cup of fresh-brewed coffee at the end of the tour was richly satisfying! We actually got to taste a few different kinds—all a little different. All bold and delicious.
What makes this coffee so good?
Ugandan coffee, especially the arabica grown around the high-altitude regions near Queen Elizabeth, has an exceptionally smooth and mild flavor profile. The coffee from these plantations is particularly well-balanced, with subtle notes of chocolate, nuts, and hints of fruitiness. It’s less acidic than coffees from Ethiopia or Kenya, making it wonderfully gentle and easy to drink.
What makes this coffee even more special is how it’s grown. No chemicals, no shortcuts—just hard work, pride, and a whole lot of heart. It’s arabica, mostly, especially in these high-altitude regions. But across Uganda, they grow both arabica and robusta—arabica up in the mountains, robusta in the lowlands, each with its own personality and flavor profile.
Coffee Across Uganda
Coffee isn’t only grown around Queen Elizabeth—it’s actually one of Uganda’s most important exports and is cultivated widely throughout the country. Mount Elgon, the Rwenzori Mountains, even around Bwindi and Lake Victoria—they say you can taste the landscape in the beans. My palette isn’t that fine-tuned, but what I tasted, I liked. And that was good enough for me.
- Arabica coffee thrives at higher elevations, particularly in regions like Mount Elgon in the east, the Rwenzori Mountains (“Mountains of the Moon”) in the west, and around Bwindi and Queen Elizabeth.
- Robusta coffee, known for its strong body and robust taste, grows abundantly at lower altitudes, especially in central Uganda around Lake Victoria and the Kibale region.
So if my luggage has picked up the scent of coffee, it may be from bringing a bit of this brown gold home with me—as many bags of it as I can carry 😊.
To read more about my adventures in Uganda, here are a few more articles:
10-day adventure with full itinerary