Uganda - Sironko Micro Mill

Relationship: 

We have worked on this coffee with our friends at Falcon Coffee. Although we sometimes work with farmers directly, it is important to recognize the value of a trusted importer like Falcon can bring as well. We do not have the time or opportunity to visit every origin and meet every farmer we get to roast coffee from. Working with a trusted importer allows us to have many more origins than we could only get to know ourselves.

Country: 

Uganda has been traditionally a Robusta producing country. In the last couple years production of arabica beans have increased but even then, as July  UCDA report states, Uganda has produced 46,346,640 kilos of Robusta and 3,455,779 kilos of Arabica beans in 2024. North American purchase of Uganda beans only cover %3 of the country's green bean export. 

Region: 

Located on the eastern border of the country Mt. Elgon region, neighbors Kenya around Mt. Elgon, the oldest volcanic mountain in Africa. It is comforting to say it is an extinct shield volcano as well. This coffee was grown on high altitudes of 1600-2000 masl. Mild slopes of the volcano hosts thousands of farmers.

Processing Station: 

The Coffee Gardens Project has been established with many purposes, such as to improve farmers income and livelihoods, create and provide rural employment, promote gender equality, increase transparency and traceability throughout the supply chain, promote and work on environmental protection in the area and provide farmer training in Good Agricultural Practises (GAP).

Variety: 

Coffee consists of three different varieties.

SL 14:

• SL14 is a variety with tall trees,  and produces good cup quality and is an optimal variety to grow on medium and high altitudes. Beans are bigger and yield is high. SL14 was originally selected in Kenya in the late 1930s at the Scott Agricultural Laboratories (for more on Scott Labs, see SL28). Individual tree selections made at the Scott Laboratories in Kenya during the 1935-1939 period were prefixed “SL.” SL14 was selected in 1936 from a single tree labeled Drought Resistant II (D.R. II), and drought tolerance is a noted characteristic of SL14. Historical records documenting the origin of D.R. II were lost, but the seedlings were established at Kabete in 1933, and then widely distributed in areas east of the Rift Valley in Kenya.Recent genetic tests have confirmed that SL14 is related to the Typica genetic group. It is economically important in both Kenya and Uganda.