February 01, 2023
JANUARY 2023 DISCOVERY COFFEE
UGANDA - African Moon
DARK CHOCOLATE, CHERRY, ROASTED CARAMELISED NUTS
ESPRESSO ROAST
REGION | Rwenzori Mountains
PROCESS | Natural
SPECIES | Arabica
VARIETY | SL14 & SL28
ALTITUDE | 1800 - 2000 masl
ABOUT UGANDA AFRICAN MOON
African Moon is a community-sourced naturally-processed arabica. Over 850 passionate farmers contribute to this regular harvest. Typically, farmers plot size ranges from 1-3 acres and are positioned all over the hillside of the luscious Rwenzori mountains.
African Moon is regularly the primary income for many of the families of the Rwenzoris. Since coffee processing began in the Rwenzoris, there has been little washing station processed coffee. Processing is typically done at the farmer level.
Since 2015, farmers have been encouraged to sell coffee as cherry rather than green. Masereka Obed is the lead farmer and one of the elders responsible for this group.
HISTORY OF COFFEE IN UGANDA
Originally introduced in the early 20th century, Arabica coffee struggled to take hold as disease ravaged the crops early on. The native and undomesticated Robusta, heartier and more resistant to disease, slowly began to dominate the country as smallholder farmers realised its potential through the 1910s and into the 1920s.
Uganda saw its biggest economic coffee boom in the mid-1970s. When a massive frost destroyed a huge Brazilian crop, buyers had a much higher demand for coffee from the rest of the world—and Uganda had the supply to meet it. Coffee became the most valuable export and kept the country’s economy flowing for years after, only faltering when global coffee prices crashed in 1987.
