Onyx Coffee - Uganda Long Miles Lunar Station Natural
Onyx Coffee Lab

Onyx Coffee - Uganda Long Miles Lunar Station Natural

Regular price $30.00 $0.00 Unit price per

Tasting Notes: Blackberry, Bubblegum, Brown Sugar, Milk Chocolate.

Recommended for Filter and Espressos.

The Story
This coffee came about through a partnership with Long Miles Coffee, whom we have partnered with for a few years. We source for not only stunning Burundi Coffees from them, but also for the most energetic coffee antidotes from Ben Carlson. Read Ben's description below for more info on this coffee.

Long Miles Coffee searched for where to grow after 10 years of producing some of East Africa’s best coffee in the small landlocked country of Burundi. Largely unknown for specialty coffee, Uganda seemed, at best, a commercial option for Robusta or poorly-processed Mount Elgon coffee in the east of the country. Starting in 2018 Ben Carlson, co-founder of LMC, set out to explore why coffee was so average in a country of great altitude and deep history of coffee production. A four year journey led Ben and the LMC team to land on the little known and quite possibly finest growing location in the world, Western Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains. [These] Mountains stretch from the hot Western Uganda town of Kasese up to Fort Portal. This mountain range is called the Mountains of the Moon because of its awe inspiring snow capped peaks in the midst of the heart of Africa. These daunting peeks separate Uganda from DR Congo. Micro-climates created through the Rwenzori forest reserve and the valleys and crevices of the mountains create daily cloud cover that the early morning sun breaks through creating excellent growing conditions for the SL verities on the mountain. The Rwenzori Mountains and its farming community have largely been forgotten or ignored by it's government, NGO’s and coffee exporters. The result of this is poor farming practices, little education on agronomy, and little in the way of speciality coffee being tasted from this mountain range.

Long Miles built its washing station between the cities of Kasese and Fort Portal to help start the change on that. Starting with our Coffee Scout program in 2022 we began building relationships with the farming families and cooperatives along the top of the mountain range. These communities were the most forgotten and vulnerable farmers in Western Uganda. Little in the way of infrastructure is there so the LMC Coffee Scouts are the youth who live high up on the slopes and spend their days in the coffee farms and going between communities bringing much needed help, education, and hope for something better to come.

The start of LMC Uganda has not been easy. There has been multiple attacks from rebels from the DR Congo which has had heartbreaking and devastating consequences to our farmers and LMC Team. We have faced flooding, devious business practices, and in general a steep learning curve as we step foot in this new LMC frontier. Onyx Coffee Lab has the first of these lots that our Burundi production team came to help teach our Uganda team the art of producing.

We hope that this is truly a taste of place, our core value of Terroir and Ubuntu shining through each natural cup.

NATURALLY PROCESSED COFFEE
Natural coffees are beautiful… Okay, natural coffees are beautiful when done properly, but can be equally terrible when things go wrong. Natural processing, or dry processing, refers to the act of drying and fermenting coffee inside the cherry. Long before the age of portafilter tattoos and dual-boiler home espresso machines, coffee was picked and dried this way out of convenience. It is, to this day, still the most convenient and economically friendly way to process coffee cherries. (It’s estimated that dry-processing can use up to 90% less water than the washing process.) So why isn’t all coffee processed this way? Well, as coffee made its way across the world, it was commoditized and standardized, just like all other products spread by colonialism, but that’s a whole other story... Adding to the boom of washed processing, the natural process method can be tricky to get right, due to the delicate nature of fermentation and drying. What does all this have to do with the final cup? Well, when you leave the skin and fruit of the coffee cherry on the seed throughout fermentation and drying, that fruit begins to break down, imparting esters that influence delicate florals and big fruit notes into the seed that survive the roasting process. If it’s rushed or handled incorrectly, this fruit rot can lend off-flavors to the coffee, making the final cup “dirty” or “fermenty.”

How is this done? It starts at harvest, with the selective harvesting of ripe coffee cherries. Only the fully mature cherries are picked, as they have the highest sugar content and flavor potential. The harvested cherries are then sorted to remove any damaged or under ripe cherries. This ensures that only the best quality cherries are used in the primary fermentation. After sorting, the cherries are spread out in thin layers on large drying beds or patios to dry naturally under the sun. (or sometimes under shade) They are periodically raked and turned to ensure even drying. This step can take several weeks depending on weather conditions. As the cherries dry, they undergo a natural fermentation process. Enzymes present in the fruit interact with the sugars and other compounds, causing chemical reactions that impact the flavor profile of the coffee. This fermentation adds complexity and fruity flavors to the final cup. During the drying/ fermentation process, the cherries must be protected from rain, humidity, pests, and mold.

Farmers often cover the cherries with tarps during the night or when there's a risk of adverse weather. The coffee cherries are dried until they reach an optimal moisture content of around 11-12%. At this point, the cherries have shrunk, and the outer skin and fruit can be easily removed to reveal the green coffee seed inside, which is ready for roasting after a short boat ride. Basically, that single cherry begins to slowly decay, and controlling that delicate action through advanced technique and metrics allow us, lucky folks, to drink wonderfully floral and fruity coffees.


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