Omwani Coffee | East Africa
OMWANI COFFEE | EAST AFRICAN COFFEE SPECIALISTS
Omwani coffee is a specialty green coffee sourcing partner, working across East Africa to connect roasters to farmers and producers. Founded by university pals James Wilkinson and Dale Goulding back in 2018, Omwani coffee humbly began their journey as most would... at a washing station, deep in the Rwenzori mountains of Western Uganda.
How can this be?
Back in the early 2010s, two friends, Johnny Rowland and James (the same James!) moved to the Rwenzori mountains of Uganda. They found work at a local development centre, which often sent them out to support small holder farms. This exposed the duo to the various challenges that producers in this region often faced when growing and selling their product.
Together, they built the foundations of Agri Evolve (which Johnny has is still the managing Director of today). James returned to the UK, but still wanted to contribute to the improvement of the coffee supply chain. This of course, led to the creation of Omwani. The partnership between Agri-Evolve and Omwani continues to this day.
As part of its founding, Omwani have laid four foundational pillars to ground their trade ethos:
1. Transparency
"We pride ourselves on transparent trade: everything we share we do so openly and honestly, and we look for similar values in our partners."
2. Fairness
"We want to ensure equality and integrity across the entirety of the supply chain we work in. Putting consideration into every action we take, and learning from our mistakes."
3. Quality
"We only source the highest quality coffee possible. We measure quality on taste, profile, economic impact and the story of the origin."
4. Honesty
"When we say something, it needs to be the truth: no smoke and mirrors or corporate half-truths, and when something isn't clear, we explain it."
At the time of writing, Omwani currently support smallholder farmers in 6 countries: Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda and are always looking to find more networks outside of these locations to represent.
Their partners at origin are:
AGRI EVOLVE, UGANDA
Find out more about Omwani's partnership with Agri-Evolve here
RWAMATAMU, RWANDA
Find out more about Omwani's partnership with Rwamatamu here
MIGOTI, BURUDI
Find out more about Omwani's partnership with Migoti here
LOT 20, KENYA
Find out more about Omwani's partnership with Lot 20 here
SATEMWA, MALAWI
Find out more about Omwani's partnership with Satemwa here
Most recently, Omwani have helped us to facilitate a number of incredibly exciting coffees from all over east Africa.
Our most highly anticipated masterpieces of the year comes from Basha Bekele, which was an absolute gem to find. Omwani helped us locate and import this coffee from the young superstar, shortly before he ended up winning the cup of excellence in Ethiopia!
We're thrilled to extend our relationship into 2025.
Omwani's coffee has become a seasonal feature in our coffee offerings.
If you're interested in working with us on a wholesale basis, or to feature some of Omwani's coffees - follow this link and drop us a message!
Omwani
Our wonderful sourcing partners specialising in East African coffee sourcing from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi and Kenya.
Omwani have been with us since the word go, and it's always a privilege to work with them. Most recently, we sourced the incredible Basha Bekele from them.
Coffee Cargo
Our wonderful Brazilian coffee partners, focusing on sourcing exceptional Brazilian Coffees.
Phil and the team at Cargo coffee have supplied us with incredible Brazilian coffee from some of the world's best farms, like our Sitio Portella, Sitio Lagoa and a number of other incredible coffees, such as our wonderful Sitio Baixao da Serra, which we supply to our friends over at Grind & Tamp.
Sitio Portella was also a well loved and gorgeous addition to York based Vinyl Cafe, Forty Five - who found it was received particularly well.
Karst Organics
Our wonderful sourcing partners based in East Timor.
Karst's phenomenal business integrity has earned them a permanent seasonal spot on our coffee offer list, featuring with us from February - June.
Our mates at Batch Coffee club wrote a lovely review about our coffee with Karst Organics that you can read on their website.
This coffee also features very heavily with our mates at York's best climbing wall, Redgoat.
You can find out more on Karst organics by following the link below.
Yundian
Since their inception, Yundian's coffee has become a staple of our coffee offerings.
Chinese coffee production has always been on our radar as having incredible potential due to its incredibly rich agricultural history and diverse terroir.
Yundian have more than earned their spot as our regular partner for Chinese coffees, providing us with some exceptional coffees such as Lu Sun and the Red Sparrow.
Caribbean Goods
Caribbean Goods are a Guatemalan specialty coffee importer. We work with Caribbean Goods to source some of the best coffees that Guatemala has to offer with a fair, fully traceable and just supply chain.
Javier's ethos aligns perfectly with our own, with an emphasis on Quality, Traceability, Customer and Farm level relationships, Empowerment and Environmental Conservation.
Caribbean Goods work with sustainable farms, using new techniques that use 90% less water than traditional coffee farming practices.
Micafe
Our wonderful sourcing partner for various Colombian coffee microlots.
Johnny has become a very good friend of ours since Harmony's inception in 2022.
Johnny's coffees have become a regular staple on our offer list, thanks to their incredibly high quality and extremely reliable consistency.
Forest Green Coffee
Our sourcing partner for El Vergel's microlots in Colombia.
Shady & Elias have also earned themselves a permanent spot on our Really Good Decaf Coffee rotation, with their exceptional Decaf from El Vergel.
We have been consistently blown away by the quality of their coffees, especially their Sugarcane Decaf, which has been a key feature at many of the best coffee shops in York and around the country - easily one of the best decaf coffees we've ever tried, which has since become a mainstay on our offer list.
For more information about El Vergel, follow this link here
Makicuna
Our wonderful sourcing partners based in Ecuador.
Makicuna now source from over 25 different coffee producers in Ecuador - primarily from Loja, Pichincha and Imbabura.
They source from some of the best coffee producers in the world - we are extremely excited whenever Ecuador is in season.
Cofinet
Our wonderful sourcing partners for various Colombian Microlots.
Bethany, Liam and the rest of the team at Cofinet have been excellent in sorting us out with some spectacular Colombian Microlots.
Currently available is our San Sebastián that you can find roasted for our mate Andy over at Bottle and Bean.
We also have a gorgeous release from Sebastian Gomez - some of Cofinet's finest!