In the Southwest of Uganda we find the Kigezi Valley, with just over 300 smallholder farmers, the coffee is processed at two seperate processing facilities from one buying center. The group have joined mountain harvest in only 2023, so it is a young part of this project.
In the southwest of Uganda we find the Kigezi Valley, home to just over 300 smallholder farmers. The coffee is collected through one buying centre and processed across two separate processing facilities.
The group only joined Mountain Harvest in 2023, so Kigezi is still a young part of the wider project. Mountain Harvest works closely with the farmers here, as it does in other regions, giving them access to pre-finance, agronomy support, processing and greater market agency.
A really exciting part of this coffee is its cultivar. This is a Nyasaland, a first for us at von&vonnie. With its roots in the wider heirloom family, it has a close relationship to Gesha, and we find quite a few characteristics in the cup that remind us of it.
It’s a very soft and delicate coffee, with a light green-tea-like character running through it. There’s a gentle almond sweetness, plenty of dried fruit and a really clean, quiet finish. It makes for a particularly nice pourover, where those softer, more tea-like qualities have space to come through.
About Mountain Harvest:
Mountain Harvest is an incredible example of specialty coffee emergence in Uganda. The project formed in 2017, transcending the role of an exporter to become a project focussed upon increasing quality, transparency and grower renumeration. The project slogan „quality coffee for quality impact“ really demonstrates their approach.
In December 2025 Daniel Neira (of Neira Specialty Coffee) introduced us to Kenneth the CEO of Mountain Harvest via an online meet and greet. Kenneth delivered to us an incredibly detailed plan of the actions Mountain Harvest have done at origin, the work they are doing and how they continue to progress. Kenneth and Mountain Harvest model is working incredibly, with the coffees coming from across Kenya being exceptional.
Mountain Harvest are investing heavily to improve their practices at the farm with the help of local agronomists, as well as education in processing and quality control all with the focus of giving farmers and producers long term value rather than just a higher price at collection (which they of course do additionally). The group works in three key regions, of course Mount Elgon (East), one of the regions best known for specialty in Uganda, Kisoro (South West) and Rwenzori (West).
Kenneth told me about their work they have been doing in processing and this is something they are truly excited about, recently we had the opportunity to meet him in person where he told us about the advanced fermentation lots, they have been working with experts as well as the Ugandan barista champion to explore many different complex fermentations to further increase the quality of the yields. This innovation at origin is putting Mountain Harvest and their coffees at the forefront of the coffee world with these coffees rivalling the best known origins for coffee.
Recently in July 2026 Mountain Harvest held its „Paradigm Shifter“ auction where a coffee from Rwenzori broke records selling at 350€/kg after a total of 797 bids. The auction showcased 10 lots, from 3 different washing stations with 6 varietals and an incredible seven different processing methods. This really demonstrates the exceptional work being done by Mountain Harvest, an area that was not associated with differentiated coffee of Rwenzori Mountains is now producing record breaking coffees - it is just truly inspirational work.
About the processing: Red ripe cherries received from the Kigezi Valley farmers are pulped, washed, and placed on raised beds until 11 bh%. They are then transferred to the Mountain Harvest temperature-controlled warehouse for curing and resting before making their journey.
About the Roast: We wanted to really emphasise the tea-like qualities for this coffee, so we went for a very light roast profile, to really showcase that florality and dried fruitiness that we find in the coffee.
About the coffee:
Region: ~300 Small Holders Across Kabale, Kisoro, Kanungu, and Rukungiri, Kigezi Valley, South-Western Uganda.
Altitude: 2,000 to 2,200 MASL
Importer: Neira Specialty Coffee
Exporter: Mountain Harvest
Harvest: 2025 to 2026
Farmgate price: c. $3,500ugx per kg cherry
FOB Price: 5 USD/lb
