Angola sets its sights on the global coffee market

Angolan coffee is a brew long coveted by aficionados around the world. In the 1970s, around a quarter of a million tonnes of this original Angolan black gold was produced a year. This was interrupted by civil war, but now after nearly 20 years of peace, Angola is bouncing back and two Angolan companies are expanding into the global market once again. Their goal is to regain Angola's standing as one of the world's top coffee exporters. The companies, Café Cazengo and Fazenda Vissolela are trying to do this by expanding in the historical coffee-producing areas of Angola.

Researchers say Café Cazengo is one of the most dynamic producers in the agricultural heartland east of the capital, Luanda. One of the main towns in this coffee country is Quiculungo.

Camila Paula, the commercial director at Café Cazengo, explains that in colonial times coffee was what moved Angola's economy and Quiculungo was really built around coffee. Camila Paula is from coffee giant Brazil and it was a Brazilian who started Angola's first commercial coffee plantation in the early 19th century.

Café Cazengo, however, was created by Mr Miguel, an Angolan whose family had been coffee farmers for generations prior to Angola’s war for independence. He created the company in 2010 and there are currently 500 coffee growers working for him, providing the raw material. The majority of the company's production is sold to the United States, but it also has a website and they are able to sell their coffee elsewhere.

Café Cazengo's 500 growers are among 25 000 smaller farms producing about half the country's coffee crop. Around 500 larger commercial farms produce the rest. Camila says Café Cazengo works with growers to boost productivity and improve their lives.