THE COFFEE FARM TRIP

Today , I bring you another adventure of a lifetime about coffee farming I visited a few days ago. The process involves from how a coffee seedling is grown to the cup time. I was very happy to do this. This project is set up by one of the tour companies here in Uganda to help the neighboring communities earn a living through participations and coffee sales.

Having a sip on a strong coffee made me to keep active on my work. The coffee here is a real one, and you will tell them if you need a light,meduim or dark roasted and also if you will need a strong or miled one. In a few minutes of boiling steam, you will have your coffee ready.

With the association of Volcanoes Safaris Patnership Trust, the community members say they are very happy to get the opportunity to know all these skills and also help their families from the earning and the support given to them. The coffee project has about thirty workers and these also take part in the day to day tree planting in the Kyambura gorge to protect the lost chimps in the area.
I finally met one of the project lady guide here who took me to see around and we had a simple conversation on how she came to join the group.

She was happy to tell me, and here are her words " My name is Claudine, a mutwa and a project guide for Volcanoes Safaris Patnership Trust (VSPT)
In 2017 ,I started working with VSPT and before I used to do some casual work from the community in exchange of food.
I am glad that the company has trained and groomed me into a project guide and am able to walk the guests to the new batwa settlement site and the vocational center where various skills are taught like basket weaving, sewing and moulding volcanic stones into gorilla sculptures.
My favourite part is guiding the guests to the vocational center and showing them the batwa hand-made crafts.
Mgahinga Gorilla national park is my favourite of all the parks in Uganda because it's where one can stand in three countries at the same time ie; Uganda, DRC & Rwanda. This can be witnessed while on the third peak of Mt. Sabyinyo "Old man's teeth".
The best tip I can give to the guests coming to Mgahinga is to come with warm clothes and their cameras to take photos of their lifetime". I felt much thankful for these inspiring words, I could not believe it that she has worked with the project since 2017, but it was the real truth. She even carried umbrellas with me for incase it would rain and also they would help as walking supporters mostly in slipperly terrains. While on the way, I met very many bird species that attracted my attention. I could not take them photos because my lens couldn't reach and they were shy. Perhaps, will get a better lens for that.

Mostly here coffee is harvested by hand picking, this is not easy work while alone, you need to be in a group for easier work. the picked red berries are collected in a hand made basket,

Then sorted trashing the bad ones, then later the good ones are put in a coffee bean peeling machine.
Then, are sundried undershade until they are totally dry.

They are then pound to crack the outer coats and get clean green beans. The winnowing is then done in the direction of wind to trash off the residues .

Then finally roasting is done whether light,medium or dark that's pound again to get the powder.

Then finally the cup time where you will test both classes of the roasted.
This was a very nice adventure and learning new ideas about coffee. It is amongst the best areas where one can take the best coffee. They even package their beans for sale in kilograms. Arabica coffee is indeed super!

This ended up my evening very well.

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