Youth undergo coffee brewing training

Star Café has trained over 40 youth as coffee baristas in a bid to create employment opportunities.
The training involved equipping the youth with knowledge and skills in coffee brewing, packaging, branding and how to set up and manage a coffee brewing business.

The programme also involved an apprenticeship programme where trainees would be attached to different commercial coffee houses to gain relevant commercial experience in management and operation of a coffee shop.

According to Geoffrey Kanyali, the operation supervisor at Star Café Uganda, the barista training programme in partnership with USAID Commodity Production and Marketing Activity, said; “We are passionate about our coffee and the idea that we could train our youth to learn more about how our biggest export can generate a more sustainable income avenue domestically through the cup,” he said.

The barista apprenticeship training programme is the first of its kind in Uganda.

Juliet Akello, one of the beneficiaries said she had no coffee brewing knowledge before the two-week programme.
“I can now brew a perfect cup of espresso,” she says. “I now understand coffee; I have learnt the entire process from seed to cup.”

There has been a steady increase in the number of coffee shops setting up in the city centre, which can be attributed to a growing middle class. “This increase will in turn lead to an increase in consumption of coffee,” says Kanyali
“Training expert baristas will ensure that we have skilled baristas getting employment as well as venturing into own Coffee Businesses ”

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