Tasting notes: strawberry shortcake, berry wine, sweet tea

Origin: Uganda

Region: Zombo district

Farm: multiple smallholder

Elevation: 5000 to 5600 feet

Variety: Bourbon: SL14, SL28, and Blue Mountain

Process: natural, dried on raised beds

Uganda quietly occupies a lofty position in the history of coffee and its cultivation. One of two countries where robusta plants grow natively, Uganda has become the largest exporter of coffee in East Africa and the second largest producer of robusta coffee in the world. Additionally, smallholder arabica farms are now producing some of the finest and most interesting specialty coffees in the market.

Robusta plants that grew natively around the low fertile deltas of Lake Victoria held deep cultural significance and were thus domesticated in gardens by the region’s indigenous people, the Baganda. Colonialists commoditized the heretofore endemic robusta for export and in the early twentieth century introduced arabica trees for large scale production. The tables reversed, however, when the British abandoned the large coffee farms during the economic upheavals following WWI and arabica cultivation reverted to local populations of small farmers.

Arabica thrives in three mountainous regions of Uganda—Mt. Elgon in the east, the Rwenzori mountains in the southwest, and from where our selection hails, the highlands west of where the White Nile River flows out of Lake Albert in the country’s northwest. Our dry processed coffee is collected from select smallholders with a history of careful cultivation around a central processing station near the Congo border that focuses on excellence in natural processing. Each lot is sorted for imperfections, floated for density, constantly rotated to achieve an even 11% moisture content, and cupped and evaluated repeatedly after drying.

The wine-like feel found in some of the best E. African coffees is present here but more as berry-wine than grape due to the unmistakable strawberry note up front. Though wine-y, White Nile’s medium body and silky mouthfeel keep it from being sharp or bracing. Shortbread aromatics also appear, which coupled with berry create an overall effect of strawberry shortcake. In the back end, the acidity develops a slight tannic quality for a sensation of southern sweet tea in the finish.