Green coffee to the cup:
The domestic coffee consumption is still very low at about 3 – 5 % of Uganda’s total annual production. There are various reasons for this namely;
1. Low promotion on the domestic market to combat the traditional misgivings against coffee consumption
2. The domestic roasters face fierce competition for the good graded coffee, which can be exported for higher revenues. The roasters thus resort to cheap, lesser quality coffee e.g. rejects and BHP, which do not give a very palatable powder.
3. Inadequate roasting equipment and packaging materials.
At the moment there are only about 12 registered domestic roasters. Three of these are located in the eastern Bugisu area of Mt Elgon and process Arabica coffees. Two roasters are processing their coffee at the TANICA soluble coffee factory in Bukoba, Tanzania and then re-packaging the powder in Kampala before distributing to the local and regional markets.
However several new coffee shops have began operating and these have continued to attract a sizable middle class clientele.