Although Uganda might not be the first country to come to mind when you think of high-quality specialty coffee, we have been pleasantly surprised by the coffees that Origin Coffee Roasting has sourced and roasted from this "up-and-coming" East African specialty coffee origin in the past. Despite the country's reputation for producing large quantities of commodity-grade Robusta, Uganda has near-perfect coffee growing conditions for specialty-grade Arabica. Finding these lots is a question of identifying the right organisations to work with.

This coffee comes from just such an organisation, a group of smallholder farmers working together as part of The Coffee Gardens. Here we have an excellent example of a carefully cultivated lot, grown at high altitude. It should offer an opportunity to taste some Ugandan coffee at its best.

Phaedon’s tasting notes

This is a delicate and fairly understated coffee. This is likely a result of both the nature of the beans and the light roast that our friends at Origin have employed. The body is delicate and the acidity is relatively subtle which gives it a tea-like quality, complemented nicely by some hints of fruit flavour. This makes it easy to drink in almost any brew method. You may want to updose a little to amplify some of the flavours.

Origin's notes

• Flavour: Blackcurrant, dark chocolate, hazelnut syrup, dried fig, sweet brown sugar
• Body: Tea-like
• Roast: Light
• Acidity: Winey
• Suitable for: Siphon, moka pot, plunger, AeroPress, espresso + milk

Coffee details from Origin

The Coffee Gardens were established in 2017 with the goal of producing incredible specialty coffee in an ethical way, offering a transparent and direct link between coffee farmers and coffee consumers. 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 micro-lots and many farmers will contribute to a single lot.

The Coffee Gardens have been working with the farmers who produced this microlot for the past five years. It is named after the village Zebugu-Busi, where many of these farmers live. The farmers have coffee gardens of different sizes and so supply different amounts of coffee. Mr Masaba Charles from Zebugu-Busi was one of the biggest contributors to this micro-lot with 512 kg of ripe, red coffee cherries.

Within hours of being picked, the coffee cherries are carried down to the washing 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 a fermentation method involving a pre-wash, a long soak in cold mountain spring water, and then a gentle long fermentation lasting forty hours before a final wash. This coffee is meticulously sorted at 12 different stages before it is exported.

• Producers: Smallholder farmers - in particular Mr Masaba Charles
  
• Varietals: SL14, SL28, Nyasaland
• Processing:  Washed
• Altitude: 1,800-2,200 masl
• Region: Upper Bukyabo
• Country: Uganda