In the summer of 2026  I travelled through Uganda and Rwanda with Lisa from Dear Green Coffee, documenting the people, communities and relationships behind the coffee we enjoy every day.

For me, the trip was about far more than photographing coffee. I wanted to understand the people and stories behind it — to spend time with the farmers, the families, and the people working throughout the industry, and to capture what makes these communities so special.

In Kinini, Rwanda, I had the privilege of spending time with members of the KCRS women’s producers group. Hearing their stories and seeing the role coffee plays in their lives was incredibly powerful. What struck me most was not simply the quality of the coffee they produce, but the sense of confidence, independence and opportunity that has grown alongside it.

Throughout the day, I found myself photographing the small moments as much as the bigger ones. Conversations over coffee, time spent with families, people working together, and the everyday rhythms of life in the mountains. Each encounter revealed something different about the people we were meeting and the communities they are part of.

That afternoon, we visited Sepharine’s farm, where I spent time photographing her family, neighbours and her husband, Xavier, before continuing higher into the mountains. The landscape became increasingly dramatic as we climbed, eventually reaching a collection station and then the remarkable farm of KCRS member Amna, more than 2,000 metres above sea level, where around 1,800 coffee trees grow.

As the photographer on the trip, these were the moments that stayed with me. Not just the photographs themselves, but the conversations, the humour, the pride people had in their work, and the generosity with which they welcomed us into their lives. There is something incredibly powerful about being able to spend time with people in their own environment and to tell their stories through photography.

The people I met reminded me that coffee is about so much more than what ends up in a cup. It is connected to land, family, community, opportunity and an enormous amount of hard work.

Kinini was the final chapter of an incredible 12-day journey through Uganda and Rwanda, but for me, the story doesn’t end with the journey home. I came back with thousands of photographs, countless conversations and a much deeper understanding of the people behind the coffee.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more from the journey — the people I met, the places I visited and some of the stories behind the photographs.