Summary

Grower: Smallholders organized with Mountain Harvest in Mbale, Uganda each farm growing between 600-1,000 coffee trees
Region: 8 communities on Mt. Elgon, Uganda
Altitude: 5,300 - 7,200 feet above sea level (1600-2200 meters)
Soil: Volcanic loam
Process: Honey Process: coffee is lightly de-pulped and dried on raised beds

Brewing Recommendations: This coffee does really well as a pour over, Chemex and drip machine. This also does well as a single origin espresso shot but not recommended for milk based drinks. We do recommend that you grind a bit more coarse for all brew methods.

Flavor Profile

Tasting Profile: The flavor profile is very complex with balanced acidity. Notes of cooked blackberry and ripe plum sweetness. It has a baking cocoa and vanilla bean finish.Making a strong case for “Uganda of the Year” this super clean and high-octane honey process is a feast for the senses.

Details

The Mountain

Mount Elgon is a massive peak split nearly in two by the border of Uganda and Kenya. The “mountain” itself, now an extinct shield volcano, is more an enormous expanse of successive plateaus that float dramatically above the surrounding valley floor. It is also home to a dense patchwork of farming communities growing some of the best organic coffee in Africa. 

Mountain Harvest Company

Mountain Harvest is a very young and big-thinking group, first established in 2017. The company is dedicated to long-term economic and environmental sustainability for smallholders on Mt. Elgon. These farmers are Uganda’s highest and most diversified coffee growers with incredible quality potential thanks to the climate, soil fertility, and a longstanding culture of land stewardship, but who historically struggle to meet specialty standards by processing coffee in tiny amounts on homemade equipment. 

Mountain Harvest’s minimum pricing is 10-30% above local market prices. Unlike other regional buyers who exclusively process centrally or buy lower grade smallholder parchment, Mountain Harvest invests in farmers’ capacity to produce high-specialty cherry or fully-dried parchment coffee within their own resources, helping them maximize their margin when they sell. 

The Coffee Details

The vast majority of coffee managed by Mountain Harvest is traditionally processed by farmers at home and delivered as parchment (an outer shell layer). This coffee, however, is a centrally-processed honey micro-lot from select communities within Mountain Harvest’s farmer network. Fresh picked cherry was transported directly from select farms in sealed drums to an experimental processing site constructed by Mountain Harvest near their headquarters in Mbale, where it was immediately sorted and put out to slowly sun-dry to 10% moisture, all of which is overseen by Mountain Harvest’s processing manager, Ibra Kiganda. The final dried coffee is then conditioned for two weeks in a temperature-controlled warehouse prior to sampling for quality assessment.