Uganda - Mt. Elgon - Sironko Washing Station

Region: Sironko

Elevation: 2200 meters

Cultivar: SL14, SL28

Process: Washed

Notes: Shortbread Cookies, Milk Chocolate, Orange Marmalade, Ballpark Peanuts

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This coffee is a community lot from the Sironko Washing Station on the slopes of Mt. Elgon (an extinct volcano on the border with Kenya and is thought to be the oldest volcano on the African continent). This massive mountain supports thousands of smallholder farmers, with arabica coffee cultivated across a wide band around the mountain between 1,200 and 2,200 masl. Volcanic soils, plentiful rain, high altitude and abundant sunshine are all contributing factors to the excellent terroir of the Mt Elgon which results in an exceptional cup quality from the coffees it produces.

This coffee is selectively handpicked and undergoes multiple quality control steps once it arrives at the washing station. These steps include grading and weighing of incoming coffee, automatic floatation, density grading to select the highest quality lots, then a low-and-slow drying process. The drying process includes a water drainage and skin drying step that increases the quality over traditional mechanical drying. The entire process takes up to two days to reach the desired moisture content of 12%. This method ensures consistent drying to increase quality and shelf stability.

Sironko washing station also teaches farmers how to compost coffee mucilage to be used as fertilizer as well as treat coffee processing wastewater for plantain and other food crops.