Uganda Bukhanakwa Fully Washed

Peach, red apple, lemon, raspberry
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Lot Number P8002023-1
Warehouse Liverpool, UK
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    About This Coffee

    This lot is sourced from a small community of farmers in Bukhanakwa on Mount Elgon, Eastern Uganda. These farmers supply our long time partners in the region Zukuka Bora Coffee Company. The purchase price of this coffee includes a dedicated premium used to fund social projects in the community. 

    The Zukuka Bora Coffee project was set up to support the people of Mt Elgon in many different ways. While coffee farmers are at the heart of the project, the profits from the project are also used to support their partner NGO: JENGA Community Development. JENGA have been working in the Mt Elgon area for almost 20 years, and had laid much of the groundwork for Zukuka Bora to build relationships with farmers and their communities. JENGA operate a range of projects - including education sponsorship, clean water schemes, savings groups, health promotion and training, and wider farming support.

    Bukhanakwa is Zukuka Bora’s most remote farmer group. It is well over an hour's walk from the Wanale washing station over the top of the ridge. The community produces extremely good coffee, sometimes growing up to 2100masl. The introduction of the project to this area has been welcomed with huge enthusiasm, and Zukuka Bora have been able to buy coffee direct from the farmers - something that has not been done in the area for decades. Farmers are paid a good price with a bonus and as such, production is going up year on year.

    Origin Uganda
    Subregion Mt Elgon
    Producer Type Small Holder Farmers
    Processing Washed
    Growing Altitude 1950m - 2100m
    Plant Species Arabica
    Variety SL28, SL34
    Screen Size 15 Up
    Bag Types Grain Pro / Ecotact

    The Region

    Mt Elgon is an extinct volcano on the border with Kenya and is thought to be the oldest volcano on the African continent. The massive base and gentle slopes support thousands of smallholder farmers, with arabica coffee is cultivated across a broad band around the mountain between 1,200 and 2,200masl. Volcanic soils, plentiful rain, high altitude and abundant sunshine are all contributing factors to the excellent terroir of the Mt Elgon region.

    The region is steeped in coffee tradition. In fact, Zukuka Bora’s Tangwen coffee comes from the very micro-region where Arabica coffee was first planted in around 1920, after being brought from farms in neighbouring Kenya. Despite the rich history, the story of specialty coffee is more mixed.

    After independence in 1962, Uganda had a fine reputation for coffee, with strong cooperatives working across the mountain - most famously the Bugisu Cooperative Union. Quality cultivation and harvesting practices were employed and the industry boomed. However, over time, quality started to become compromised due to a variety of reasons and buyers started to become (rightly) suspicious of the quality coming out of the country.  As a result, prices plummeted, and for many farmers growing coffee was simply not economically viable. There was very little differential local market for quality and so the quality-driven processes were largely abandoned.

    In recent years however, as the specialty industry has grown producers have started to realise that there is demand and economic incentive for high quality coffee.

    The Process

    Ripe coffee cherries are selectively harvested and then delivered to the wetmill. The cherries are floated in a clean water tank to separate by density (lower quality cherries float and are removed). The selected cherries are then pulped and immediately dried on shaded, raised beds. The drying takes an average of 21 days.

    After drying the coffee is rested in its parchment for around 1 month before moving to a dry mill for secondary processing (hulling, sorting, grading, handpicking and bagging in Grainpro/Ecotact bags for export

    • Subregion Mt Elgon
    • Producer Type Small Holder Farmers
    • Processing Washed
    • Bag Types Grain Pro / Ecotact
    • Plant Species Arabica
    • Variety SL28, SL34
    • Min Growing Altitude 1950m
    • Max Growing Altitude 2100m
    • Screen Size 15 Up
    • On Sale No
    • Top Lot No
    • CTRM Contract Number P8002023-1
    • Origin Uganda
    • Warehouse Covoya Nano