Take a moment, wrap up warm and indulge with a Christmas brew. This year’s Christmas Coffee is about harmony, balance & festive flavours. This holiday season will be different to most, the covid-19 impacts will have been felt by everyone. We want you to take some time out, pause, relax and enjoy a warm mug of coffee that is packed with Christmas flavour.
This year our coffee comes from the Kisinga Washing Station. Many coffee farmers live high up on the slopes of the Rwenzori mountain range, which culminates at more than 5,000 M.A.S.L. The higher the coffee grows, the more slowly it matures and the more complex the cup profiles are. The cherries are kept separate and assembled in “Donkey Lots”, which is how the coffee is transported to the washing station, celebrate the uniqueness and exclusivity of the cherries. At Kisinga the coffee was dried on raised African beds for 18-21 days before being milled and prepared for export.
The magnificent Rwenzori Mountains, famously known as the ‘Mountains of the Moon’, stretch for 120km along Western Uganda and are home to the Bakonzo tribe. The high altitude, fertile soils and plentiful rainfall provide perfect conditions for growing coffee trees beans, while the pristine snow-capped peaks and the glaciers give rise to many rivers.
The Rwenzori region has a long coffee tradition. With on average 2 acres, Bakonzo farmers work manually, with the help of the whole family, and traditionally group together to process the cherries. Coffee is a source of incomes that allows them to support their families and improve their homes. While farmers traditionally sell parchments and kibokos (dried cherries), more and more choose to sell the freshly picked red cherries to washing-stations. This enables farmers to access quick payment for coffee and takes away the risk of drying coffee for the farmer, many of whom are not well equipped to dry coffee.
