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OUR
COFFEE
Varieties:
We grow arabica coffee of traditional East African varieties,
(SL14, SL28 and Nyasaland commonly known as Bugisu local).
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Coffee
in flower and freshly-harvested ripe coffee cherries. |
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Dry
“parchment” coffee and green coffee beans. |
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Our
production system:
The coffee is lovingly cared for, regularly pruned and weeded,
and treated with organic sprays made from local plants if
it develops any problem. We enhance soil fertility by mulching
and feeding the coffee with compost and other organic matter.
We protect the soil by making contour-ridges that prevent
soil loss and by planting grasses and other plants to control
erosion. We interplant food crops in our coffee, and we shade
it under large trees so that the beans mature slowly to develop
their fullest flavour. Over many years we have developed a
sustainable production system that does not degrade the delicate
environment of our beautiful mountain home.
Harvesting
and processing:
We do not “strip-harvest” our coffee, but pick
each cherry only when it is red-ripe and ready for harvesting.
We have developed a specific step-by-step process for turning
the red cherry into dry “parchment” coffee,
ready for delivery to our local society. Unlike many producers
of washed arabica coffee, we do the work ourselves on our
own farms, and we take great pride in our ability to produce
world-beating quality without using wet-processing factories
or estate-based systems. This way, more of the value of
our coffee gets back to us, the farmers.
Photo of farm processing.
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Coffee
drying on a table |
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Quality
control:
Our field staff train and supervise us on our farms, and the
quality of our parchment is strictly monitored by our local
societies when we deliver. Samples are taken from each bag
and tested for quality before the coffee is accepted. The
same control is exercised at the union, when the society delivers
its coffee for dry-processing and export. Once the coffee
has been milled, graded and handsorted to remove all “off-grades”,
it is cupped in our laboratory by our trained cupper, who
selects the best coffees to sell to our specialty customers. |
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We also receive
training in cupping, not in order to become professional cuppers
but so that we understand the different quality issues that
can arise when coffee is not harvested and processed well. |
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Gumutindo
farmers learning coffee quality in the cup. |
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Women’s
coffee:
Our societies have begun to separate the deliveries of our
women members from the rest of the coffee so that their coffee
can be marketed separately. The mother is the backbone of
the family on every farm, but traditionally it is the man
who owns the coffee. Women marketing their own coffee means
more income for the family and greater equality between husband
and wife. |
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