Coffee now more than ever is experiencing historic growth in demand. Coffee culture is budding steadily as well in new and emerging markets like my country: Uganda. It can’t go without saying the scores of coffee shops for on the go experience and cafes are being opened now and again.
However, the slow uptake of coffee in some emerging markets does not mean that coffee as a plant and or commodity has been missing till recently. For example in Uganda; robusta coffee is considered to be an indigenous coffee species that even grows in the wilderness as a wild plant. It’s the major coffee species that is grown large and wide across Uganda’s flatlands predominantly dark loam fertile soils while its counterpart: Arabica coffee originating from Ethiopia is grown on the fertile high land of the pearl of Africa.
For centuries, coffee has been served in homes and public places in Ethiopia as long ago as the ninth century. It’s has formed and bettered our social engagements: remember all those beautiful moments we share with family and friends over a cup of coffee, first dates with a “your special one”, business meetings, and deals that we hold over coffee.
Take an example of “Fika” coffee culture in Sweden:
Fika is a big part of every Swede’s everyday life. Basically, fika just means to have a coffee. But it is so much more than just that. It has been described as a social institution or even a phenomenon. Swedish people — often described as distant, calm, and unsocial — love their fika. It gives them the opportunity to meet and hang out with friends, get to know new people, check out potential partners, or network with business folks.
In Ethiopia, considerably the birthplace of coffee, if a person is heard saying that he or she does not have anyone to drink coffee with, it’s literally interpreted that that person does not have good friends.
Of course, the coffee culture takes on different names and expressions from one place or people to another.
It’s “fika” among the Swedes, “Buna dabo naw” (literally translates to “Coffee is our bread”) amongst the Ethiopians or “Buna Tetu” which literally means “Drink coffee”.
In Uganda, coffee drinking is still majorly associated with the urban working social class. These are majorly the corporate working youth who have made into or are near the middle-income threshold. These are the fiery executives, business owners, and entrepreneurs that seek a daily dose of a shot of caffeine to get them into their laser-sharp force mode to take on the world. However, others a just jumping onto the divide because it’s very fashionable to be seen drinking coffee in a coffee shop or workplace as opposed to drinking tea (which is taken to be very traditional).
The coffee demand is projected to keep growing globally and the culture evolving as well. Online coffee shopping is taking shape as well. Consumers order online for deliveries or drive-through experiences, and of course for the stay home (working from home) still being able to order for their favorite pack of coffee (ground or roasted beans) to make their caffeine sacred rituals a reality and going-concern.
