Coffee, now roasted!

In search for caffeine I climb up the western slopes of Mount Elgon to Sipi Falls. It is hot and since two days ago coming from western Kenya there is no view anymore. Agricultural planting season has begun and the farmers are burning all their land. The air is just thick, grey fog. The area is densely populated here and I somehow loose interest in further exploration. But coffee I must find! I search for Thomas who is offering plantation tours and there are rumors that coffee is also available for actual drinking instead of just for bewildering. But his phone seems to be off. The other way round, Thomas finds me at my lunch table and then everything develops quickly. He gives me a brief tour of his veeery small but organic plantation. There are other neighbours and friends doing the same business. Afterwards, at a different place I put hands on preparing my own (his) green beans and pan-roasting them over open fire. I create my own medium-roast which I then grind in a mortal the traditional way before it is infused in a pot. What a great smell, yum yum! In theory, after roasting the coffee beans would have to rest for a few days and I am impressed of how tasty these directly processed beans are! Very sweet and fruity with a hint of Quitte. No bitterness. The aroma develops further when the cup cools down. Now we are talking business! I buy the only three packs left of his already roasted beans and consider my mission as accomplished! Had I known that the actual roasting is so straight-forward and that it leads to more than just acceptable results in terms of "camping coffee", I would have grabbed the green beans in Kenya's Nandi Hills. With two (!) hand-grinders and Oli's AeroPress my car is well-equipped for getting them into a cup ;-)

Thomas offers me to camp at his place because he wanted to advertise his backyard campsite anyway. Wonderful! He is very eager to improve the business and to build everything up step by step. I am the first camper on his lawn! There is a simple drop toilet where I even find a pretty Black Widdow spider waiting for me.
Further, a wooden enclosure for washing yourself from a bucket of warm or cold water. We spend the rest of the evening and morning talking about possible improvements and I give him many valuable insights from a camper's perspective. We share the same attitude in many aspects. He grows lemongrass and rosemary, lemons, oranges and mangoes for his guests. In the evening we find three chameleons in his garden! I should change my title to "Chameleonist" ...

Uganda's major elections have been two weeks ago but this very evening in Sipi some regional elections were decided for the community's preferred candidate. Right timing to be here! Apparently there are some "rich guys" around who call themselves "leaders" and who wanted to buy parts of the community's precious land and to build more rich-guys houses there. But the community managed to fight them off by letting their oppositionist win. All people are going crazy now and dancing on the streets while waving random green plants around and shouting "We don't want your money!" in their local language. Thomas is very happy and explains all the details of what was/is going on here.

What a day. The next morning I drive with Thomas to Kapchorwa where he buys a brand-new Nokia 105 dual-SIM handset from part of my payment (for 16 EUR). That's the best feedback from your touristic investment you could get, right?! Now he is reachable by phone again and can communicate with future guests. I try to send him a second-hand smartphone from Germany.Read more