Butawa, The Coffee Gardens, Uganda | Washed FSC-8685

The Coffee Gardens’ Butawa microlot is a washed coffee produced by smallholder farmers in the village of Butawa, located on the mountain above the company’s processing station in Eastern Uganda. It is composed of Nyasaland, SL14, and SL28 varieties grown at 1,800–2,200 meters above sea level, where the cooler climate promotes slow cherry maturation and dense, high-quality beans. Freshly picked cherries are pulped and then undergo a 40-hour submerged fermentation in cold mountain spring water before being dried on African raised beds in solar dryers and sorted through 12 distinct quality control stages prior to export. The Coffee Gardens publishes detailed price transparency, indicating that 59.5% of total costs are paid to farmers, with the remainder allocated across processing costs, overheads and security, training and community projects, government fees, and cost of finance. For the Butawa microlot, the sales price is 3.90 dollars per pound, with 65.89% of the sales price returned to farmers including bonuses, totaling 16,996 dollars distributed to the producing community. This model is designed to give buyers clear visibility into how value is shared along the supply chain while creating financial incentives for quality and sustainable practices at farm level. Additional information on social, environmental, and economic performance, along with farmer scorecard outcomes and service delivery, is available through The Coffee Gardens’ Impact & Transparency Report.