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Writer's pictureLC Davison

Gather 'round the cupping table – December 2024


The Omwani team (and a few plus ones) stuffed into a broom closet for the end of year do.

Hi everyone, and happy December! We hope you’re enjoying the festive season with a mug of coffee in hand…


In this month’s newsletter, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the past few months. Over the last year, we’ve started meeting regularly - about once every other month - to dive into some of the key questions and conversations shaping our industry.


As we approach a new year, it feels like the perfect time to tackle some big topics. With the hysteria around high coffee prices, we want to start an open and honest discussion about why this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for our industry and why, in many ways, the prices we are seeing for coffee still aren’t enough.


As ever, agree or disagree, we would love to hear your thoughts - So please, don’t hesitate to reach out!



News from origin and coffees on the way


We’ve been really busy roasting, cupping, and sending out samples over the last month or so, with coffee arriving from Rwamatamu and Lot 20 keeping us busy and some exciting samples arriving from new relationships.



 

Meanwhile in Africa...


Coffee setting off from Burundi


This container has been loaded with a variety of micro lots, featuring this year's sack design of a hippo, by local artist Pacy.


We updated you on the situation in Burundi last month. Unfortunately, shipments are still slightly delayed this year, but we have movement and this week the containers rolled out of Bujumbura on their way to Dar es Salam. 



A new partnership in Zambia


Exciting talks are currently underway with producers in Zambia who have big plans and big ideas around how we can revolutionise the coffee industry through Agricultural innovation and cutting edge tech.



Rwanda and Kenya arrivals


Both containers have arrived recently, safe and sound with no delays which is becoming a rarity. 


During our end of season catch up with team Rwamatamu, we pondered on the idea of taking risks in this volatile industry: we concluded that our shared long term commitment to each other gave both businesses the confidence to aim higher for the future and two containers are in the works for next harvest.


Having these kinds of commitments in place not only helps stem volatility, it gives both businesses the room to invest and innovate. It also puts us in a stronger position to promote these commitments to our roasting partners and achieve further commitment down stream.


When roasters choose the long term approach, we see real impact. We gain the confidence to commit to more, and we witness the results of controlled growth for all businesses with little effect from market volatility. It’s with this in mind that we celebrate 4 years of working alongside Rwamatamu Coffee.



Tanzania:

 

Ngila Estate is located on the edge of the cloud forest that surrounds Ngorongoro Crater in Northern Tanzania.

We’re delighted to introduce Ngila Estate. This collaboration began after a conversation with a great friend and customer of ours, Peter James of James Gourmet Coffee. Peter has been sourcing Tanzanian coffee from Ngila for a few years now and after a conversation around the issues with delays in shipping, we offered our support for the process. As it turns out, Ngila share many of our values around transparency and sustainability for the supply chain. Not only that, but they produce some knock-out coffees that we couldn’t help but fall heels for. Simply put, we’re delighted that our current partnership with James Gourmet has resulted in a new one with the team at Ngila Estate.


All of this aligns with our vision, as mentioned earlier, of securing more forward contracts and pre-booking arrangements. With commitments from all involved, we are aiming to build a supply chain that will hopefully mitigate or at least reduce some risk.



As a side note…


As we got chatting to Ngila’s owner Vera Stücker, it opened up an interesting and important conversation amongst ourselves - one that might spark some discussion, but we feel it’s worth sharing.


Vera Stücker (centre) pictured here with a pair of roasters as they visit Ngila.

Vera, who we’re thrilled to be partnering with, is originally from Germany and has been exporting coffee for decades. Over the years, she has created stable opportunities for the local community in Tanzania, while producing some exceptional coffee.


This brings us to an important question: when you hear the word ‘producer’, who comes to mind? Many of us have seen photos of farmers in Africa used in marketing for specialty coffee. However, these individuals aren’t always the ‘producers’ - at least, not in the context of the supply chain we’re describing.

For us, distinguishing between ‘farmers’ and ‘producers’ is essential, especially when sharing updates about our work. There’s a growing misconception in the industry that the images often used in marketing represent all producers, but that’s not the full picture.


We’re committed to being transparent about this - both in the language we use and the photos we share. This is the reality of the industry we’re part of, and when you take a closer look at the supply chain, you’ll see that coffee is being sourced in much the same way across the board.


Individuals like Vera play a crucial role in their communities and the industry at large. However, we need to make sure that we differentiate clearly between farmer and producer, something we at Omwani are working on in the language we use. 



 

What’s come up in conversation 


Time for change: have we moved past the blanket term ‘specialty coffee’?


We read a really interesting article recently by Nick Mabey of Assembly Coffee and Volcano coffee works: How High Prices Are Exposing the Hollow Promises of Specialty Coffee


It resonated with us and highlighted a number of points we’ve been discussing for some time – including why, we believe, these changes in the industry have been a long time coming.


It’s fair to say the past year has been turbulent, with coffee prices hitting all time highs. But it’s important to recognise that this isn’t just a bump in the road. The industry now faces a critical moment, where we must look inward and start asking some big questions - questions that should have been addressed long ago.


For years, we’ve been fortunate to buy great quality coffee at very low prices. Now that prices are beginning to reflect what they should have been all along, some businesses are understandably struggling. But rather than fear these changes, we should embrace them. 


Higher prices mean a better chance for farmers to work towards more sustainable livelihoods - though of course this still depends on conditions at origin and how the value is distributed along the supply chain.


The cracks in the industry are becoming more visible, and instead of ignoring them, we should be digging deeper. Are farmers being paid fairly? Are prices as transparent as we’ve always believed them to be? These are the hard questions we need to ask if we want to build a stronger and more equitable future for coffee.


Another interesting point raised in the article was how low prices have led to the “oversimplification of the roles played by intermediaries”.


The article states: “The reality is more complex. Many intermediaries play essential roles in coffee supply chains, particularly in regions where smallholder producers lack the resources or logistical capacity to bring their products to market.”


A good example of beneficial intermediaries are our friends at Migoti Coffee in Burundi. Part of Migoti’s role as a producer is to coordinate over 1200 farmers they work with. Alone, these individuals would not be able to access the international market to sell their coffee, and many would instead give their coffee to lower-paying traders that offer cash up front. Migoti’s presence in Rural Bujumbura provides these farmers with a more beneficial alternative.


The article also proposes some bold solutions for the future, one of which stands out: abandoning the term “specialty coffee” entirely and allowing “the market to determine which brands resonate based on ethics, quality, and relevance”.


It’s bold, but potentially brilliant.


The term “specialty coffee” has become so broad that it’s lost much of its meaning. It now includes everything from large commercial roasters to small-scale, experimental operations. Lumping such vastly different players under the same label doesn’t seem fair or reflective of the diversity within the industry.

Differentiating between tiers of coffee could bring much-needed clarity to the market and help everyone - from producers to consumers - better understand and appreciate what they’re engaging with.


As we look ahead, we believe these distinctions could make a world of difference in navigating an uncertain future. It’s an exciting, albeit challenging, time for coffee, and we’re eager to keep pushing.



 

Well everyone, that’s it for 2024. It’s been a pretty wild year, but we’re still standing, and still eager to bring you the kind of coffee only the passionate people of East Africa can provide.


Here’s to a 2025 of new friends, more learning, and lots of coffee.

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