Ugandan Nyabirongo

Description

Ugandan Nyabirongo Coffee

The latest arrival at Real Deal Roasters. This wonderful Ugandan Nyabirongo specialty Arabica coffee is processed naturally, using underwater fermentation. Nyabirongo is the community where the Agri Evolve Coffee Station is to be found just outside the town of Kisinga. This coffee has been sourced from a large number of smallholder farmers from the southern part of the Rwenzori region.

Many farmers live in the lower areas at 1300masl, and others live higher in the foothills up to 1600masl and above. There are over 2700 farmers from the area who bring their ripe cherries to the coffee station for processing.

For this batch, the coffee cherries were placed in water for 48 hours before being moved to the drying tables to complete the natural drying process. The cherries were turned by hand on a regular basis to ensure even drying. The dried cherries were then hulled, cleaned and sorted in the Dry Mill before being bagged in ‘Grainpro’ bags inside of jute sacks to ensure the coffee reaches the UK in perfect condition after the journey by truck to Mombasa and by boat to London.

Agri Evolve Coffee in Uganda – beyond Fair Trade

Agri Evolve has been bringing green coffee beans from the Rwenzori region of Uganda to the UK since 2018. During this time they have worked with the farmers to improve their production of speciality arabica coffee which is now regarded as some of the best in the whole of East Africa. The coffee both Natural and Washed is typically very clean, well balanced with a good body and fruity notes. In 2022 they built there own factory at there base at Nyabirongo. With both wet mill and dry mill facilities, they can control the production process from when the freshly harvested coffee arrives from the farmers to when the finished green coffee beans are graded, packed and dispatched to worldwide markets.

Brief History of Coffee growing in Uganda

Historically Uganda only grew robusta coffee plants. They are native to the country and more resistant to disease than the higher-grade arabicas. After independence from the UK in 1962 coffee became Uganda’s most valuable export. The industry thrived throughout the 1970s, planting thousands of new arabica coffee bushes from Ethiopia in the higher areas. After a decline in the late 1980s the industry grew again and coffee is now the country’s most important export crop. Coffee makes up 22 percent of total exports.

There are coffee washing stations throughout the coffee-growing areas of Uganda. This is where the small farmers bring their produce to be sorted, washed, pulped, floated, separated and dried, ready for export to the coffee lovers of the world.