Description

These coffee beans come from the Eastern Ugandan region of Upper Bukyabo and an organisation called The Coffee Gardens. They established themselves in 2017, with the goal of producing specialty coffee in an ethical way, offering a direct link between coffee farmers and consumers. The Microlots were assembled by combining day-lots (coffee processed on the same day) with similar taste profiles. Therefore, a single farmer may contribute to multiple microlots.

The Coffee Gardens have been working with these farmers, who produced this microlot for the past five years. They know each and every farming family in their area. This decaf lot is named after the villages of Gombe and Zebigi, where many of the farmers live. Last year, along with the support of roasters, they trained these farmers on growing coffee amongst shade trees, good agricultural practices, and of course, better harvesting techniques. In July, they were able to distribute over 8300 shade, fruit and fast growing tree seedlings. This year, training is continuing and they are building toilet blocks for the three primary schools in the area, including Zebugu-Busi Primary School.

Mr Zesiro Micheal from Gombe was one of the biggest contributors of red ripe coffee cherries to this microlot with 967kg, and Mr Woniala Moses from Zebigi contributed 349kg. The coffee cherries are carried down to our station in 50 kg bags by “runners” – a team of over 160 women and men employed from the local community. This coffee is pulped before undergoing signature fermentation method involving a pre-wash, a long soak in cold mountain spring water, and then a long fermentation lasting forty hours before a final wash. This coffee is meticulously sorted at 12 different stages before export.