Here's another coffee from our new partners Agri Evolve in Uganda, this time a juicy natural with notes of red grape, tamarind and satsuma. It's got a vibrant fruit-forward profile that we love. Of all the coffees that we tried from Agri Evolve this was definitely the stand out!
Mahango is a community at 1800 masl in the foothills of the Rwenzoris, with many farmers living and growing coffee well above this height. Agri Evolve established a buying centre here for the local farmers several years ago. We love all the social work Agri Evolve does, including teaching farmers how to process their coffees better, and the fact that they are a registered B-Corp. Farmers at Mahango typically have between 1 and 2 acres of land, and coffee is their main cash crop.
To make this coffee, ripe, red coffee cherries are picked daily during the harvest season and taken to the buying centre. The cherries are weighed, assessed for quality, and the farmers are paid in cash. From here trucks carry the cherries to the Agri Evolve Coffee Station at Nyabirongo. This batch has undergone an additional ‘extended fermentation’ process to further develop and enhance the quality of this coffee. On arrival at the Coffee Station, the ripe cherries are placed in tanks of water for 48 hours ensuring anaerobic fermentation takes place. The cherries are then removed from the water and put on raised beds to continue the drying process as a Natural coffee. When fully dried, the coffee is hulled, graded, sorted, and cleaned and prepared for export to the UK.
If you enjoy comparing the taste of two coffees from the same region, we highly recommend checking out our Uganda Karambi, which we also purchased through Agri Evolve. It's also a natural, but with a more classic, chocolately flavour profile, and it's pretty fascinating to taste the two side-by-side! We're so excited to feature these new Ugandan coffees and help promote Agri Evolve's amazing work.
Elevation: 1800 – 2000 Metres Above Sea Level
Varietal: SL14 and SL28 and some older regional landrace varieties
Cup Score: 86
Price paid per kilo: £8.60
Process: Natural- extended fermentation in water, sun-dried
