Black Kahawa Coffee was born in East Africa.
Our founder, Columbus, Ohio native Douglas Buckley, has been roasting coffee for more than fifteen years, eleven years in the East African country of Tanzania.
His family was part of a faith-based community doing humanitarian work in Tanzania. Their community helped provide clean water, support women through pregnancy and childbirth, and helped provide children coming from low income families with opportunities for play, artistic expression, exercise, nutrition and spiritual encouragement.
While living in Tanzania, he co-founded a small coffee roasting company focused on teaching women the craft of hand roasting coffee. Without the aid of motors, site windows, timers or computer monitored temperature controls, women are trained to use their five senses to hone their craft. The women of Wamama Kahawa continue to produce delicious coffee that people love in the beautiful coastal city of Dar es Salaam.
Buckley helps fill out paperwork as more than fifty coffee farmers open their first bank account.
Teaching coffee roasting in this environment for nearly a decade, Buckley honed his craft. He also got to meet and build relationships with Tanzanian coffee growers. He sat in their homes, enjoyed conversation in their national language, Swahili, and he even got to help farmers from an emerging cooperative open their first bank account.
Enjoying the moment with a coffee farming family in Mbeya, Tanzania.
These experiences inspired Douglas to start Black Kahawa Coffee when he returned to his hometown in 2019. Buckley is passionate about roasting East African coffee for coffee enthusiasts in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio and beyond.
