Uganda Mbale

Diversity and excellence are the heart of Mountain Harvest Uganda, whose dedicated work with 850 Mt. Elgon smallholders has made for some of the most exquisite coffee. While we’d expect nothing less than the best to come out of Africa, this month’s Roaster’s Choice selection is truly a gem. We taste notes of Greek yogurt, persimmon, and grape compote. We’re stoked for Uganda Mbale Mountain Harvest Raised Bed Honey.

Mountain Harvest operates exclusively on Mt. Elgon, an extinct shield volcano on the Uganda-Kenya border, where high altitude and nutrient-dense soil foster SL14 and Nyasaland varietal coffee plants. Both varietals are grown mainly in Uganda and Kenya. Interestingly, Nyasaland was first transported from Jamaica and cultivated in what is now Malawi, and then quickly shipped off to Uganda in 1910 where it encountered similar difficulties. Ugandan farmers opted for robusta (which we now sell) for a while, but Nyasaland has found its footing yet again, now thriving on Mt. Elgon.

In total, Mountain Harvest has approximately 680,000 coffee plants in its ranks, spread across eight communities. Most Mountain Harvest coffees are processed by the farmers at home using handmade equipment and delivered as parchment. Mbale, however, is a centrally processed honey microlot that’s picked and transported in sealed drums to an experimental processing site where it’s sundried to 10% moisture content before undergoing a two-week, temperature-controlled conditioning period.