Walking into Africa, the hometown of coffee

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One of the things I was curious about was that coffee originated in Africa, but in many parts of Africa, especially in small towns and villages, very few people drank coffee.

This time I took a trip to Uganda's coffee-rich hometown, and this question can basically be answered.

In Budadiri village, Uganda, near the Kenyan border town of Mombali, there are many coffee farms here. The so-called farms are just some people who live more clearly. They have previously enclosed a large area of idle land, in which a large number of coffee trees have been planted. Of course, banana trees, guava trees, pineapple trees, jackfruit trees, papaya trees, avocado trees and so on can be accompanied by coffee trees. These trees grow with coffee trees because their water needs can be spread evenly, unlike root crops such as cassava, taro and corn, which are relatively greedy for soil and water. Therefore, in the coffee garden, although there is no coffee fragrance, also do not feel the sweetness of tropical fruits, but these with different colors of fruit trees in harmony with the land, give people a lot of beautiful relaxed feeling.

Local farmers carry coffee beans home, a bit like a wife singing along.

This is the fresh-picked coffee cherries of farmer Jaja Kate's daughter.

In Budadiri village, coffee farmer Jaja Kate owns hundreds of thousands of coffee trees. From September to December every year is the coffee harvest season. I follow him to pick red coffee beans on the coffee farm. At first glance, these ripe coffee beans look like small cherries. The color is very attractive. Ask these coffee bean pickers again, either his daughter or his son. How did he have so many children? Do you grow coffee trees so rich that you desperately want to marry and have children?" I asked him jokingly.

"No, no, no. I have only one wife, and she has borne me ten children. But the truth is I have twenty-five children. Most of the others are homeless orphans or their parents are friends of mine. Some of them were entrusted to me before they died. Some of them are too sick to raise their children. They were handed over to me. I sent them to school. The older children have graduated and helped me work on the farm. We are a big family. When I die, these trees will be distributed to them so that they will not starve." Jaja Kate is very talkative and happy to live. He takes his children to pick coffee beans and sing songs. Their family and these coffee trees are like relatives. They turn around these coffee trees every day and know the growth of each tree very well.

These fresh coffee beans look like cherries, but taste very different.

Logically speaking, red coffee beans are considered ripe, while green coffee beans should wait for three or five days to pick, but this guy can't wait to pick red and green coffee beans, he explained, put two days can be ripe.

According to Jaja Kate, coffee trees grow very fastidious, they like cool places, most suitable for areas with plenty of water, and most suitable if they are covered with volcanic ash. The conditions for cultivating high-quality coffee trees are quite strict: sunlight, rainfall, soil, climate, etc., all affect the quality of coffee. Sunlight is an essential element for coffee growth and fruit, but strong sunlight will also affect the quality, so at this time, you need the surrounding banana trees, mango trees and other fruit trees to help block the sun, in order to achieve the natural regulation of sunshine balance. Coffee trees are generally planted on hillsides due to sunlight and drainage requirements.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia in Africa and later spread to Yemen in the Arab region of the Middle East, so some people call it Arabica. Later, it spread to Java, Indonesia, and from there to Latin America. African coffee was first grown in Congo, Uganda and elsewhere as Robusta coffee, and one species was grown in Liberia as Liberica. In 1753, Swedish botanist Cari Ven Linne divided coffee into three main varieties: Arabica coffee (about 70% of the world's coffee), Roberto coffee (formerly 25% of the world's coffee), and now almost no one uses Liberica coffee. In recent years, there has been a hybrid of Arabica coffee and Roberto coffee,"Arabsta coffee."

Jaja Kate, a farmer with hundreds of thousands of coffee trees, is a veritable landowner in the local area, but his charity has won the appreciation of the local people.

At present, the conditions in the village were limited, so they could only use the water from the river to clean the coffee beans. Although the water was a little turbid, it was definitely not polluted. It was pure natural water.

I don't know until the scene. It turns out that there is a layer of mucus like glue outside the raw coffee beans. If you don't wash it hard, it is difficult to wash off this layer of mucus. If you carry out subsequent drying and processing with these mucus, it will directly affect the quality of coffee beans.

Drying coffee beans is also a sorting process. During this period, even if people have thousands of pairs of eyes, it is not enough, because coffee beans are uneven, and it takes considerable patience to pick out extremely inferior beans. Both hands and feet may not be enough.

At present, the coffee grown by Jaja Kate belongs to Arabica coffee and is also a good coffee bean. Of course, this has something to do with the soil and temperature in this area. So he was very proud, but when asked if he drank coffee, he said that it was only occasional, not a daily necessity.

"Since I've been dealing with coffee beans all year round, why don't you like coffee?" I asked him.

"Although coffee beans originated in Africa, drinking coffee is not a hobby inherited from our ancestors. We did not have roasting technology. At that time, at best, we would grind the dried coffee beans by hand and drink them with boiling water. In fact, we like to chew the dried coffee beans best. Including in the national engagement and marriage ceremony, the woman's family will send dried coffee beans to the man's family, connecting the hearts of the two families with coffee fruits. This is our true traditional custom."

Now I finally understand why drinking coffee is not as popular as in Europe and America. Of course, in addition to the more difficult roasting technology, there is also a very important reason, the local people to sell coffee beans to make a living, which is willing to drink the good quality coffee beans themselves, moreover, people from chewing coffee beans, but also can appreciate the simple but not caffeine flavor of pleasure.

Finally, there was a Buganda engagement ceremony. The last item of the ceremony was indeed the elder of the woman's family. The dried coffee beans were handed over to the bridegroom and his relatives. After that, everyone shared the joy of chewing coffee beans, which also indicated that the marriage could continue happily.

In Uganda, coffee farming is one of its export pillar industries. Now, with the expansion of the export industry, many people gradually joined this work. Every year during the coffee harvest season, these people would travel to various coffee farms to survive and feed their families.

In Uganda, where Arabica coffee beans account for only 15 percent of the country's coffee production, Uganda's best coffee is mainly grown in the Elgon and Bugisu mountains along the Kenyan border in the northeast and in the Ruwensori mountains in the west.

This is a cappuccino made by senior engineer DICK at a local coffee laboratory with the freshest Arabica coffee mixed with Robusta coffee. It tastes so delicious that we can't enjoy it in any coffee shop in China.