About Us
Zombo Coffee Partners is a small coffee exporter based in Uganda. We supply specialty-quality arabica coffee as nano-lots and microlots, up to full containers. The coffee is produced by farmer groups in the Alur Highlands of north-west Uganda, in their own tiny processing factories known as “microstations”. Our 15 microstation partners offer handcrafted Natural and Washed coffees. The cup profile of each microstation is a little different, reflecting the range of elevations, terroirs and processing practices. As our customer, you get to choose which microstation’s coffee you like best!
Our Coffee
Specialty coffee with unique flavour profiles and a tenacious approach to impact.
We offer a range of natural and washed coffees, with a unique and increasing range as we expand partner micro stations and begin on organic conversion. Hulled, polished, screened and sorted, green Arabica coffee beans of the highest quality are packed and exported from our factory, Julia Park, Nebbi to destinations around the world.
Organic coffee
We are in conversion to organic with 2,700 farmers at 10 microstations. Certification is planned for the 2025-26 crop year.
What does our coffee taste like?
Beyond the high scores, this was a truly amazing coffee to profile, where small adjustments would highlight different flavor notes. This profile highlighted the most intense grapey floral notes, along with intense cooked fruit and tropical sweetness, a creamy mouthfeel and a long-lasting finish. As this coffee cools it gets more interesting. The grape note becomes more like grape candy, the apple like fresh pineapple, plenty of floral notes and a slight raw cacao tannin that is found in lots of experimental-lot coffees. The acidity grows but stays mellow, reminding me of slightly under-ripe dragon fruit. This incredible coffee is complex and dynamic, evolving as it cools, so definitely take your time!
Wow! The natural from Ndhew microstation feels like a woman giving you a warm hug!
Where to find it?
Some of our current customers
Brewing Change
Impact
Our promise, agreed with all our buyers, is that our price for fresh cherry will never drop below $0.60 per kg, no matter what happens in the global marketplace. And whenever we make a profit, we will share it with all our farmers
There are so many ways our farmers are improving their lives. Microstations create reliable employment deep in the village where paid work is very scarce. Members learn to handle large sums of money and account accurately for them. They learn how to be in a long-term partnership with a commercial company. They develop knowledge of coffee quality and skills such as the organisation of collective work, record-keeping, financial management. They build permanent houses, buy land, motorbikes and smartphones, wear good clothes. Some prominent members, women and men, go into local politics after gaining confidence and self-esteem working on the microstation.
1.
Zombo Coffee Partners prefinances 15 microstations each year so that they can buy coffee from farmers. Our floor price guarantee is $0.60 per kg of fresh cherry, which is slightly above the Fairtrade Living Income reference price for arabica coffee from Uganda.
2.
Zombo Coffee Partners prefinances 15 microstations each year so that they can buy coffee from farmers. Our floor price guarantee is $0.60 per kg of fresh cherry, which is slightly above the Fairtrade Living Income reference price for arabica coffee from Uganda.
The targets are set in discussion between Zombo and the Microstation. Since we don’t necessarily know in July how much coffee we will end up exporting so it’s not a firmly fixed thing at the workshop, its a moving target. Each microstation has its volume target and as the season progresses, maintains records of all farmer deliveries and payments.
Some microstations process more coffee than others. The largest, Gonyobendo, has around 500 farmers while the smallest, Jukia Park, has about 50.
3.
Zombo Coffee Partners prefinances 15 microstations each year so that they can buy coffee from farmers. Our floor price guarantee is $0.60 per kg of fresh cherry, which is slightly above the Fairtrade Living Income reference price for arabica coffee from Uganda.
The targets are set in discussion between Zombo and the Microstation. Since we don’t necessarily know in July how much coffee we will end up exporting so it’s not a firmly fixed thing at the workshop, its a moving target. Each microstation has its volume target and as the season progresses, maintains records of all farmer deliveries and payments.
Microstations
Rabo Foundation impact survey
In late 2023 a telephone phone survey of 297 of our farmers was carried out on behalf of our trade finance lender, Rabo Foundation. It covered four “dimensions”; living standards, resilience, coffee farming outlook and food security. The major finding was that our farmers are thriving at a level of 67 out of 100.
Agency For Community Empowerment
We work very closely with a local NGO in Nebbi, AFCE. Its coordinator, Aggrey Chombe, is the production director of the Zombo Coffee Partners. AFCE carries out projects across the development spectrum, from public health to bee-keeping, from gender justice to planting trees for carbon credits. It sources the funding farmers use to construct their microstations, and employs the community-based staff who train farmers in climate-smart, regenerative agriculture. We could not achieve our goals as a company without the help of AFCE.
Contact Us
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