Hustle in a Cup

My colleague Ben once described coffee as ‘liquid effort’. If true, Dison Kareng (pronounced Dee-son Caring) is a double shot of espresso.

Uganda has been a tough place for local independents. Over the years multinational washing stations have supplanted older organizations such as cooperatives, associations, and farmer groups. One reason – access to capital. Another, access to international markets.

Still, there are a few Ugandan coffee entrepreneurs who are taking the harder path towards export. They happen to be really stellar people who, I believe, have a real chance at making the more traditional community-up approach work again.

This is why I’m excited to introduce our first import from Dison, who I first met in 2009. Since then, we’ve kept an eye on him as someone who has been elevating coffee from Mt. Elgon region. In 2019, I visited him again and liked what I saw. In 2020, he was able to mobilize his network and get his first export out to us. As I write this, he’s sending pictures showing how his first business loan is being used- the build-out of a mini-washing station.

A few months ago I was locked up in my house while Dison was hustling, trying to get his first export to us out of quarantine. Without public transport, he learned how to drive a motorcycle. Multiple times a week Dison ventured 5 hours down-mountain to manage samples, check on export documents, or oversee milling.

This coffee just arrived and we couldn’t be happier to welcome the Mamboo Coffee Network to the US coffee community. This is just one of many fresh arrivals from Uganda. Feel free to check them out and sample up anything that strikes your fancy.

– Jake

Farmer meetings often take place at Dison’s cafe in Kapchorwa. Here he serves one farmer a coffee. The processing facility is located just 100 yards or so up the street from the cafe. Dison wouldn’t let the coffee out of his sight. He pitched a tent and slept with the coffee during the harvest.

Mamboo Sipi Falls River Washed | Lemon-lime, caramel, baker’s chocolate, raisin, malt | 84