Rwenzori – Uganda

ORIGIN

Coffee is Uganda’s leading export crop, contributing significantly to the economy and is vital to the livelihoods of nearly two million people who directly or indirectly coffee rely on coffee farming. The country is the sixth-largest coffee producer globally and has emerged as Africa’s top exporter of coffee in recent years after enjoying sustained investment and growth. The country enjoys a very favourable climate for coffee production and benefits from high altitudes, ample rainfall and nutrient-rich volcanic soils. The landlocked country produced more than six million 60-kilogram bags last year.

Most of Uganda’s coffee is the indigenous species C. Canephora (Robusta) which grows wild around Lake Victoria and accounts for 80% of the country’s overall production. However, the demand and need for the diversification into the cultivation of Arabica varieties (SL14, SL28, Nyasaland amongst others) is growing as the sector introduces more sustainable practices with a focus on raising both volume and quality. Specifically, this lot has been harvested by smallholder producers on the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

PRODUCER
Norman Mukuru is a known coffee professional in Uganda. He established The Coffee Yard, a huge centre for coffee drying with a formidable reputation for consistently processing high quality naturals with a diverse range of cup profiles. In partnership with this coffee’s exporter, The Coffee Gardens, they have been working closely together to showcase the outstanding flavour potential that Ugandan coffee has to offer.

Over many years, Norman has developed extensive relationships with smallholder producers providing training in good farming harvesting and post-harvesting practices. After being selectively picked by smallholder producers, the coffee cherries are ‘semi-dried’ to a moisture content of between 14-15% before it is transported from the West to the Coffee Yard in Eastern Uganda — a 12-hour journey — where they are carefully dried down to an optimum moisture content of 11%. Once the coffee is fully dried, a final sensory and green bean analysis is conducted, after which the coffees are graded for quality. Only then are the coffees milled, colour-sorted, and prepared for export.

ROAST

Sourced through our friends at Falcon Specialty, we love this coffee for it layered complexity in the cup and have applied an energetic short-time roast profile to preserve the clean zesty lemon acidity in the cup. The sensory profile also reminds us of notes of blood orange, ginger cookies and nutty almond in the finish. There is also a mouth-coating syrupy body that balances out citrus acidity. Perfect for a range of immersion or filter brew methods.