We interviewed Blue Turaco Coffee for a peek inside the world of Ugandan coffee.
Blue Turaco Coffee focuses on single origin Arabica coffee beans from Uganda.
This is a subtle medium roast coffee bean with fruit notes accompanied by a hint of chocolate. As usual, I performed a mini cupping session to evaluate the quality and characteristics of this Ugandan coffee.
In addition to that, I also carried out a coffee tasting session to assess the coffee. Both of these sessions gave me a better picture about how this coffee is carrying itself from farm to cup and served as a quality assessing tool to help me understand more about it.
If you’re interested in trying a Ugandan coffee, look no further than Blue Turaco Coffee. I’ve included my notes below, but first, we had the opportunity to interview Wycliffe Sande, founder of Blue Turaco Coffee based in London, UK with coffee farms located in Uganda.
Here’s what we learned:
1. How and when did you make the decision to get into the Ugandan coffee industry?
There are two stories and reasons for Blue Turaco, I will try to share them in short form.
When I started dating my girlfriend who is now my wife, she mentioned that she liked coffee. I told her about Ugandan coffee and that Uganda had lots of it. Knowing that Uganda and my own village produced a lot of it, I believed I could find a lot of it on the shelves of UK supermarkets. So with that, I decided what to get my new girlfriend – Ugandan grown coffee to show off!
The following day, I visited a few different supermarkets and I was surprised to not find any Ugandan coffee!
Now I didn’t know what to say as I knew very well that even then Uganda was one of the leading producers of coffee in Africa. I thought about it and decided that I wanted to do something about it.
I know how important coffee is to Uganda’s economy and during my work with my tourism business through different coffee growing villages, I spoke to a lot of coffee farmers and started thinking of ways to work with them to better themselves and their families.
Then, coffee came into mind. I decided the best way was for me to start a coffee farm so that I could speak to the farmers with some experience and also work together with solutions. So I planted my first coffee in 2015.
2. Where in Uganda is your coffee grown?
We get our coffee from Eastern Uganda around mountain Elgon and western Uganda around mountain Rwenzori. We also get some of our coffee from our small holders within the central valley of Uganda where our small demo farm is located as well. All our coffee is grown from around 1200 – 2100 meters [approximately 3900 – 6900 feet] above sea level.
3. There’s so much involved in the process of producing coffee. Could you tell us what a day in the life of a Ugandan coffee farmer looks like?
Where to start… a coffee farmer’s day depends on whether it’s harvest season or not.
The majority of coffee farmers are smallholder coffee farmers growing crops on less than 1 acre of land. If it’s harvest season, farmers wake up early and after a quick breakfast, go into the coffee garden and start picking coffee. Usually coffee is picked up early in the morning to avoid too much sun.
They bring back what has been picked, clean it and start the drying process. If the farmer chooses the natural dry process, after cleaning the coffee, it will then be sun dried with whole skin. However, a lot of other farmers are starting to go the washed coffee route, which means after cleaning and sorting, they will pulp (take the skin off) the coffee, then float the coffee to do another quality control and remove all the floaters of the coffee that has come up.
The cleaned coffee will then be soaked overnight to remove the mucilage and rewashed in the morning again before putting it out for sun drying.
4. How would you compare Ugandan coffee with others like Kenyan, Rwandan or Tanzanian coffee?
Due to the close proximity of the eastern Ugandan coffee growing region to Kenya, sometimes you will be hard pressed to find huge noticeable taste differences in Uganda and Kenyan coffee. But of course, a good Ugandan coffee that’s grown in the western part and central valley region of Uganda has a very mild citric finish.
5. Tell us how you prefer drinking your coffee. How many cups do you drink per day?
Depending on the time of day, in the morning, I like my coffee black, no sugar or milk but afternoons with milk but no sugar.
Blue Turaco Ugandan Coffee Review
For the tasting session, I made a latte using Blue Turaco Ugandan coffee using my espresso machine.
Blue Turaco Coffee Tasting Notes
- Aroma : Citrus, cherry, woodsy, hint of tea.
- Body : Clean and light.
- Acidity : Delicate, soft, and balanced.
- Sweetness : Sweet chocolate, hint of citrus note.
- Flavor : Earthy, nutty, black tea.
- Finish : Very smooth, clean, medium finish.
A latte is a type of coffee beverage made with espresso and steamed milk which is very popular around the world especially in the United States due to its sweet and mellow flavor.
My latte made with the Blue Turaco beans tasted mild, but as I continued to have another sip, I felt a delightful range of tastes and flavors. I believe this coffee will shine even more if I chose to drink it straight black without milk or any additives.
Read More: How to Make Latte Art at Home
How should you prepare Blue Turaco Coffee?
Overall, I like Blue Turaco Coffee, and big applause to the effort of bringing a quality cup of coffee to the communities. I love the flavors and it is balanced and accessible. I especially like the silkiness of this coffee where the flavors are transparent and clear throughout the cup. It is getting sweeter and the floral notes become more pronounced as the cup cools. The slight note of milk chocolate comes to the fore with a hint of caramel.
For me, this is an enjoyable coffee. But for coffee lovers who prefer darker roast and looking for something with massive mouthfeel and oiliness, you may be disappointed with the milder flavor of this specific roast.
In my view, Blue Turaco Ugandan coffee is a great coffee if you prepare it the right way. I generally suggest using the pour over method, or using a moka pot for the ultimate coffee experience.
If you are looking for a coffee to drink all day that consists of numerous aromas and flavors, this is your coffee.
Check out Blue Turaco Coffee’s website to purchase a bag or two of fresh roasted coffee either ground or whole beans.
