Bulaago Natural

Bulaago sits high on the slopes of Mt Elgon in eastern Uganda, around 2,100 meters above sea level. It's one of the highest communities working with Zukuka Bora and one of the hardest to reach.

The only road in and out follows a gorge carved through the mountain by water. During heavy or unseasonal rain it can become impassable, making the movement of coffee a challenge. One solution is the local boda boda. Bags of ripe coffee cherry are balanced onto small motorcycles and carefully transported down the mountain to reach processing.

Difficult access aside, Bulaago has some pretty remarkable conditions for growing coffee. High elevation, fertile slopes, plenty of sunlight and reliable water create an environment where coffee can develop slowly. More than 200 producers contributed coffee from the community in 2024.

Bulaago is part of the growing network built by Zukuka Bora across Mt Elgon. Producers bring ripe cherry to their local buying site where it is sorted, floated and purchased directly. Zukuka Bora aims to offer some of the strongest cherry prices in each region, pays producers on delivery, and follows with an additional payment later in the year. Just as importantly, they commit to returning each harvest, giving producers a reliable market for their coffee.

For this natural lot, the cherry is typically rested overnight before being spread onto raised beds inside parabolic drying structures. The coffee is turned regularly and carefully managed as it slowly dries, a process that takes roughly twice as long as Zukuka Bora's washed coffees and requires considerably more drying space.

The result is our Bulaago Natural, one expression of a community producing some exciting coffee at the upper reaches of Mt Elgon.