How to get a Great Cup of Coffee on Safari
Your must read Coffee Lover Survival Kit for your Safari in Uganda
Coffee Lover Survival Kit for your Safari in Uganda. Coffee was born and raised in Africa. Today some of the best Arabica Coffee is grown in Uganda. Visiting here, outside of Kampala, you may never know that and neither does anyone else as you are served tepid water in a thermos, sugar, often powdered milk or creamer, and the worst thing one can do to a coffee lover, a tin of the Instant Coffee.
To one who loves their Morning Joe, that is like dancing without music. To coffee lovers, instant coffee is simply a sacrilege. Some resort to tea while yearning for the steaming cup of delightful Arabica coffee that is grown a stone’s throw from the lodge you are staying in.
By now, you are asking yourself, “how is it possible to get a top-quality cup of coffee anywhere in the world but here I get instant, powdered, coffee? Isn’t coffee grown in Uganda? where coffee is grown all around. I saw coffee fields just yesterday.
Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco sells it, and Starbucks has a variety of coffee beans from the heart of Africa on Sale, but the version of Java served here in Uganda where they grow some of the finest coffee, I get the Instant stuff which is an insult to a connoisseur of coffee from a city like Washington State where they consume more coffee than anywhere else in the US.
Can I get a good Cup of Coffee on Safari?
Recently I came across this on TripAdvisor in a review by a visitor to Uganda “The coffee is weak and terrible, just like every place in Uganda. I am used to that.”
You are on Safari amid World-Class Coffee growing Countries and you are served tepid water, along with some lousy Instant Coffee, the person serving you has no clue that instant coffee is like “Dancing without Music.” They do not know how much of an insult “Instant Coffee” is to a lover of good coffee.
Like most Ugandans or Rwandans the person bringing you that cup of morning joe, have had their cup of Chai, Tea that you will see grow in parts of Uganda and Rwanda and not coffee. In other words, most are clueless as to what is a good cup of Coffee and Instant looks just fine to them.
Recently I came across this on TripAdvisor in a review by a visitor to Uganda “The coffee is weak and terrible, just like every place in Uganda. I am used to that.”
Coffee Lover Survival Kit for your Safari – Coffee is something many of us who travel enjoy and not just any coffee, but a tasty morning brew, not instant, not weak stuff, but real Arabica Ugandan or Rwandan morning brew which we have read about, which is grown and produced in this country but often not served by Tea-loving Ugandans and Rwandans who think that instant coffee along with tepid water and powdered milk is just excellent.
Why Instant coffee is unacceptable for Coffee Lovers!
For Coffee Lovers on Safari, being served Instant Coffee in a world-class coffee-growing country is simply not acceptable. Those that love their Morning Joe, cannot settle for Nescafe’ or some other form of Instant whatever, even if it is served with a smile.
The Safari Experience – that visit to Uganda, a quality coffee-growing country, is diminished when a hotel or lodge serves instant coffee with a great breakfast. To a coffee lover that is sacrilege and as one says in Uganda, “bad manners.”
To a coffee lover not serving the Country’s best is everyday insanity and it also reflects something else. Lodge owners are often culturally clueless about what their guests from abroad wish for. Lodge Staff, even those that grow coffee in Uganda will most often have their morning Chai – African Tea with milk, sugar, and ginger.
Most Luxury Lodges are serving quality coffee to their guests. At Midrange Lodges it is still a hit-and-miss situation. Though great strides of improvement have been made by many. Budget lodges, you will get instant coffee.
We suggest that Hotels and Lodges feature quality Arabica Coffee on their menus. Sell and promote Ugandan grown coffee to guests to take home and experience Uganda from safari.
Our Coffee Lover Survival Kit for your Safari in Uganda
What we do for Coffee Loving Clients on Safari with us:
Our Coffee Lover Survival Kit while on Safari in Uganda, plus other tips. For a start, let us know that you love good coffee that is step number one and will allow us to book you into lodges where good Arabica Coffee is served.
Unfortunately, that is mostly in moderate and upmarket lodges, and even then, it is hit and miss depending on the owners of the lodge or hotel.
As a Safari Tour Operator, we realize the importance of a hotel or lodge that serves real coffee, not the instant version which is like an Ersatz Coffee.
If coffee is a must-have beverage in the morning, we will do our best to make sure that your coffee cravings are quenched with the real stuff.
Just let us know ahead of the safari that you enjoy a great cup of coffee in the morning.
The last resort is to use our Coffee Lover Survival Kit below.
Creating a Coffee Lover Survival Kit for your Safari in Uganda 
- Avoid using Shoestring or Budget Hotels and Lodges in Uganda. Even if they are located next to a Coffee Plantation, most likely you will get the instant kind.
- Use Moderate or Upmarket Lodges the chance of getting instant diminishes when you use better hotels or upmarket lodges.
- French Press: Coffee Lovers must-pack Survival Kit item – a small French Press coffee maker. We can buy one here for you.
- Purchase quality, ground Ugandan Coffee in a giant supermarket or a coffee shop. In Uganda, we recommend the hand-roasted Big Gorilla Coffee and Star Cafe’ Bugisu or White Mountain Coffee. Be sure to order boiling, boiling water. Decaf coffee is not made here, and you have to bring it.
- Emergency Plan: In case you did not bring a French Press and cannot find one locally, there is another way. Take two cups, put the right amount into one cup, add boiling water, let sit for a short time and pour the coffee through a fine sieve into the other cup. Voila – a great cup of coffee.
- If all of the above fails, try a great cup of Tea in Uganda or Rwanda – it is quite good. You may not like African Tea with milk, sugar, and ginger all boiled in one pot, and you can get a cup of plain tea.