WHITE NILE
Variety: SL14 & Catimor
Process: Washed
Country: Uganda
Region: West Nile
Altitude: 1450-1800 masl
Producer: Smallholders
Certificate: Organic
For many, Uganda might not the first country that comes to mind when thinking of high quality Arabica, the country has been traditionally known as a producer of Robusta. However, in many regions of the country the challenges are more a matter of infrastructure, history and knowledge than environment. One such area is the West Nile sub region (previously known as a Province), high in the Northwest of the country, bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Arabica coffee is grown at 1,450 to 1,800 meters above sea level. This region’s ideal natural conditions have the potential to produce stellar speciality coffees and transform the lives of farmers accross the region.
Kawacom (export partner) initiated their White Nile Organic Coffee project in 1998 in an effort to harness this potential. By promoting the cultivation of Arabica coffee, training farmers in agricultural techniques and best practices, educating widely regarding the importance of harvest and post harvest activities, and building top-notch washing stations, the project hopes to put Uganda ‘on the map’ as the next big destination for speciality coffee. So far, the successes have been multiple. In 2003 the project received its very first Organic certificate – an accomplishment that has, over the years, attracted UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certification schemes. Today, the project has expanded significantly, thanks to these successes, and reaches 8,000 small holder farmers, many of whom not only receive higher prices for their higher quality coffee but also participate in other social and environmental programs and Kawacom’s cash management project.
ANA CECILIA ESTEVEZ
Variety: Red catuai
Process: Macerated natural
Country: Honduras
Region: Corquin, Copan
Altitude: 1300 masl
Producer: Ana Cecilia Estevez
Certificate: Organic
Ana Cecilia Estevez is a coffee producer that lives at the municipality of Corquín Copan, Honduras. She is fanatical about coffee, she is fascinated by production and quality of coffee. For four years she has been working for the Aruco Company, where she has gained a lot of experience in the area of roast and coffee quality control. In addition to working at The ARUCO Company, is also a partner of the same. There, through its the technical assistance department, she has received support for the preparation of special coffee microlots. In this process, she has obtained the knowledge to harvest excellent quality coffee and improved her production practices, in order to achieve greater profitability for better personal and family development opportunities. Now, Ana’s plot of land, not only has coffee, but has been diversified with timber species, fruit trees, ornamentals and others that beyond beautifying the landscape, provide a more pleasant and conducive ecosystem for the life of wildlife. Ana dreams about her future and is carrying out that dream towards the conversion of her farm in part of a tourist route that together with the rest of the family can implement, building cabins, trails, spaces for the development of traditional activities such as grinding sugar cane with oxen, spaces for traditional games and above all, design the process of growing, harvesting and benefiting of coffee to show it to those who visit the farm.
This lot is a natural that was macerated for 72 hours before being dried on raised beds. All the processing for the ML’s takes place at the Aruco mill to centralise and have greater control over the process to create consistent procedures but also to reduce the risk on the producer.
The mill is also at 800masl which gives a drier more stable climate to dry the coffee compared to up at the farms where the weather can be less predictable. The coffee will be delivered to the mill where they assess the cherry (take Brix) and decide on the process for the coffees depending on space and what the producer has done already. The cherry is cleaned and washed and then floated to remove any immatures. Then it is placed into barrels that are sealed to create an environment without oxygen for the cherry to continue ferment and macerate in the barrels for different times. In the barrel the temperature is monitored and kept around 22-25c in the shade at the wet mill. The coffee is then taken to the beds where it is dried for between 20 -30 days weather depending where it is turned.
