Images of Coffee and Tea
"Using the photographs"
All photographs were supplied to us by Andy Carlton of Twin.
Use of these materials is free for anyone promoting Fairtrade.
However the materials must be ascribed to their source.
The embedded photographs are linked to full size pictures for download.
Coffee
Gumutindo
Gumutindo is a single estate coffee grown on the slopes of Mount Elgon in East Uganda.
Like a wine from a single vinyard, there are vintage years,
but so far Gumutindo coffee has been very good.
It has a mellow rounded flavour.
This is morning coffee for fresh taste buds.
The Gumutindo Project
The Gumutindo project makes a single origin, high quality coffee,
marketed by Equal Exchange, certified organic in Sweden,
and in process of organic certification in UK with the Soil Association.
The coffee grows at a high altitude on the side of Mount Elgon.
The first photograph gives a mountainside view of the smallholdings and huts from the coffee farms.
They are growing maize, cassova and bananas.
The Shamba
Kelemnsia Nabuduwa and Zita Wanyense.
These women are working on the shamba, where the coffee bushes are planted in between the banana trees.
The banana trees provide shade for the coffee bushes.
The women are weeding.
When they grow organic coffee they need to concentrate on the quality
and need better farming techniques to achieve pest control.
Coffee beans need careful handling to create the quality of product that sells in Europe.
A lot of physical hard work is involved as demonstrated by Beatrice Nambafu,
who is carrying a 50kg bag of beans down to the cooperative.
Parchment coffee.
Has a papery skin over the beans.
The coffee is being delivered to the Buginyanya Coffee Association which is a
small group of three co-operatives in the villages.
Picking over the Gumutindo beans.
Once the coffee is down the mountain, the coffee beans are checked for substandard beans which are discarded.
These women are picking out any diseased beans.
These are paid by the number of bags of beans.
Coffee tasting (a.k.a. Coffee Cupping).
This is at the factory where it is milled, and at the back is the parchment coffee.
Then milled green coffee, graded into large, down to the smallest known as peaberries.
The coffee is bagged in these size grades prior to export.
For the tasting it has been roasted on the spot.
This tasting session was intended to check variation of taste with height of farming.
The taste in Uganda favoured the lower farms.
BUT.
In London, when the beans were older and the water different it was higher level beans that tasted best.
Gumutindu Buginyanya meeting.
Richard is showing the Cafedirect poster / advert. Richard works for Twin.
The Fair Trade premium pays 55% more than the local price.
This comes in two payments, the last being in cash at the end of the season (unusually early).
Plus a social premium for use on community projects.
Albert Tucker, MD of Twin talks to coffee farmers in Uganda.
More on Gumutindo:
The following link takes you to the Guardian Newspaper website article on Gumutindo:
Gumutindo Article
Katenga - South West Uganda.
Katenga - Introduction
The aea has a reputation for high quality robusta coffee.
There are 11 registered co-operatives, and the area is much more wealthy than Gumutindu or Kagera.
With the Fairtrade premium the villagers have built the co-operative hall.
Jassy Kyohairwe and friends are seen here in the Co-operative Hall.
The spring.
The social premium paid for Fairtrade coffee is used,
democratically, for projects to benefit the whole community.
In this case protecting spring water from contamination by animals was achieved using the social premium.
The classroom.
As it says on the photograph, this was built with Fair Trade Assistance.
Rwagati Kagera.
Rwagati Kagera - Introduction
124 registered co-operatives make up the coffee union in Kagera.
And hence the Fair Trade premium was spread over a lot of people.
Co-operative college of Tanzania consultants developed, with support from Twin,
a training course to help the farmers understand the market chain.
Strengthening the business acumen to enable them to sell more coffee.
Ladies (business skills) workshop.
Peru
Mother and child, Huadquina, Peru
Sri Lanka
Seetha Valley, Sri Lanka
WR Punchibanda, Organic Tea Farmer
Darjeeling, India
Couple with Flowers.
In foothills of Himalayas, high altitude, Cool, misty and raining.
Workers – many of Nepalese origin.
The scots opened up Darjeeling, and used Nepali labour.
Big Tea Farms were monoculture, but many are now converting to organic, and interplanting with other crops.
Also from Darjeeling, a Tea Plucker.
Varieties of plants can be seen in the photo which is from the Singell Organic Tea estate.
Putharjhora, West Bengal
West Bengal - The Putharjhora Tea Gardens.
Indian Tea is characterised by large tea estates, many of which are no longer profitable.
The second man from left in the photo owns 5 estates.
Lots of estates are neglected and abandoned,
and the approach is to buy and make them organic, and then build up the business.
Without the pesticides they are having trouble with the tea mosquito,
and the first man is the bio-diversity expert from Darjeeling (see Nepalese origin).
Other two are the tea estate managers.
And tea pickers needs weather protection as well.
Gambia
Fatou Kanteh with groundnuts.
Farmers from Gambia.
As yet there is no Fairtrade labelling scheme for groundnuts, so Twin were looking at how the business works.
And then will look for the most sustainable way of bringing the farmers into the market.
And hence are looking for a viable business model.
Women (groundnut) workers in Buniadu, Gambia.
(N.B. The above was written in 2003. Fairtrade labelled peanuts (groundnuts) are now available).
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