Casa Espresso: Uganda, Kayembe, Washed

This coffee is fully washed. Ripe cherries are floated to select the highest quality (densest). These are mechanically pulped and then dry fermented for around 20 hours to break down the fruity mucilage.

Once the mucilage has broken down sufficiently the coffee is washed and graded in clean water channels, soaked for 12 hours and then transferred to raised beds where it dries in the sun for 3-4 weeks depending on rainfall/sunlight. The region is surrounded by dense tropical rainforest and so rainfall is very frequent. Once dried the coffee is rested in its parchment (husk) for 1.5 – 2 months before being milled, carefully sorted, graded and handpicked.

Gorilla Summit Development Limited is an independent coffee company working in the Kanungu region of South West Uganda.

South of the Queen Elizabeth national park and close to the border with Rwanda and Congo. It is one of the poorest regions of Uganda, however has excellent conditions for speciality arabica cultivation, with rich fertile soils, plentiful rainfall, high altitude (up to 1,900masl) and lots of sunshine. Projects like Gorilla Summit represent a great step forward for a sustainable local economy which pays fairer prices to farmers for excellent quality coffees