Mountain Harvest believes making an impact in the Ugandan coffee industry starts with their staff and the people they work with—individuals from the very communities they serve. At the Mabono Station, Processing Manager Uthman Muluwa serves as that source of inspiration and a leader for the surrounding community. In a country with limited professional training and coffee education, Mountain Harvest strives to recognize the potential in everyone, from casual laborers to interns, field officers, and managers. Uthman began his journey as a casual labourer, often referred to as a "heavy loader," carrying coffee at various stages of production in the facility. We noticed that during his downtime, Uthman would often wander over to the Processing Station to engage in processing work out of pure interest. By the next season, he had advanced to Processing Assistant, and within two years, he became the Lead Processing Technician at Mabono. A true testament to the passion and commitment to growth in these producer communities.
Nestled between the hills of Mount Elgon—Mabono, Namesti, Itimbwa, and Bukalasi—Mountain Harvest has established a micro-washing station where Uthman buys cherries and processes them with a team of Processing Assistants. For this particular coffee, Uthman prepared a Honey process in its purest form: red ripe cherries were floated, pulped, and placed on raised beds for drying until they reached 11% moisture content, then rested in a temperature-controlled warehouse.
