Buzzing Culture: Coffee shops almost replacing pubs in Uganda

Uganda is enjoying a caffeine kick, all thanks to an expanding middle class which has given rise to a coffee drinking culture and now, coffee houses in Kampala are replacing pubs. Almost.

Uganda gives the world some of the finest coffee but consumes about three percent. Most is exported to the European Union and the United States, among other countries.

And just recently, the country held its 9th Barista championship, an annual contest meant to promote the country’s coffee and unveil the brewer with the best coffee-making skills.

“I appreciate coffee in a way I never thought possible. You have got different coffee beans that’s what I have come to discover and the creativity from the contestants it’s not just the normal coffee whereby you just go and get coffee beans and you just drink, they have taught me that you can actually mix up the coffee with one of your favourite ingredients and you will get same thing that you really love,” said Janet Muthoni, a coffee fan.

And as Robério Oliveira Silva, the executive director of the International Coffee Organisation tells the Financial Times, “Africa is the next frontier” for coffee drinkers.

Africa’s largest producer, Ethiopia, which is also said to be the birthplace of coffee, drinks up half of its 330,000 tonnes annual production because the population has traditionally enjoyed the brew.

In Kenya too, consumption has jumped 46 per cent in the four years to 2014, according to the country’s coffee traders association.

Coffee is a big business in East Africa, which produces some of the world’s finest Arabica and Robusta beans.