TASTE NOTES

Coffee taste notes for Nagasire, Uganda: chocolate, cherry, chamomile, brown sugar, citrus

COFFEE BACKGROUND

Nagasire trading center sits in Uganda near Kapchorwa Town, on the slopes of Mt. Elgon — the oldest volcano in East Africa. There, Cahoots Coffee operates a washing station called Kapyoma, or “meeting place” in the local Kupsabiny language.

We’ve worked with our importer partner Osito for years to source great coffees from Central America and Africa. This coffee is a continuation of Osito’s quality offerings — but it also represents steps in new and exciting directions. This is the first year that Osito has imported coffee from Uganda. It’s also the first harvest from the newly established producer Cahoots Coffee. The company was founded last year with guiding principles that prioritize transparent and sustainable relationships with coffee farmers.

After coffee farmers on Mt. Elgon deliver their freshly harvested cherries to the washing station, Cahoots processes them. First, they sort and pulp the cherries using a Penagos machine. Then, the seeds ferment underwater for around 18 hours. Finally, station workers wash the seeds in grading channels before spreading them out to dry on tables.

This first harvest for Cahoots has been marked by challenges including a spiking market price for coffee cherries, unpredictable weather, and limited infrastructure. Cahoots’ founder, Benjamin Jenkin, is a coffee industry veteran who met these challenges with a creative and tenacious spirit. Even while transporting coffee between drying sites, Benjamin and his team maintained a focus on quality. The result is a consistent, clean, and delicious coffee.

In this time of challenge and uncertainty, everything from environmental conditions to market prices to tariff policies are affecting the coffee industry in increasingly unpredictable ways. This coffee is an example of the exciting results that are possible with confident steps in creative new directions. We are proud to support Osito’s and Cahoots’ first steps into an unknown, shared, future.