Elsewhere Coffee Roasters | Bukonzo Dream | Uganda
The Roaster
Elsewhere Coffee Roasters began their coffee journey as the in-house roastery for Social Espresso, an events company that delivers high-end coffee to conferences and exhibitions across Europe.
After proving popular they decided to dive into the retail coffee scene and make the coffee available to everyone.
They roast their coffee in Deptford, London and supply coffee to offices, shops and restaurants all over the UK.
Their unique and eye-catching branding is a symbol of the feeling you get when drinking coffee.
"A leap into the world of speciality coffee or an escape into another world whilst you sip some of their incredible coffee."
The coffee that these guys roast is top draw. Their menu at the time of writing this post consisted of coffee from Uganda, East Timor, El Salvador, and Honduras - 4 origins that are fairly rare in the UK coffee scene.
Elsewhere coffee are also aware of their environmental responsibility as a coffee roaster.
Their packaging is 100% recyclable (something that isn’t as common as you would think in coffee) and they have built relationships directly with the coffee farmers and importers to make sure they get fair value for their fabulous coffee.
The Coffee
The Bukonzo Dream was harvested by hand in Uganda. The cherries are then pre-sorted before being floated in a tank of water. The cherries which float are removed, leaving only the best cherries. These cherries are then sun-dried on raised tables inside purpose-built poly-tunnels.
Farmers carefully turn the cherries throughout the day ensuring uniform drying. Once dried to the required moisture content, the coffee is stored and processed the wet mill in Kisinga Town. After processing, the coffee beans then undergo a final removing any black beans or defects from the coffee.
The coffee is then bagged and transported to a new dry mill in Namanve on the outskirts of Kampala. Here it is prepared for export through Mombasa.
Photo; Maria Pintado
Many farmers choose to sell the fresh cherries after they have been sorted and floated, often with the assistance of the field team based out of Kisinga. This enables farmers to access quick payment for coffee and takes away the risk of processing coffee at their farm, many of whom are not well equipped to dry coffee.
The cherries are delivered to the wet mill in Kisinga Town where a team of trained workers are able to carry out the whole process to a high standard.
Uganda is fairly new to the speciality coffee scene. Although the country has always produced coffee it mainly exported Robusta coffee (and is thought to be where it was born).
Nowadays 80% of the coffee that is produced is Robusta, of which some of the highest quality in the world can be found. Arabica makes up the further 20% but is one the rise with a demand for the unique flavours and cup profile that Ugandan coffees produce.
Following the liberalisation of the coffee industry in the ‘90s, today 100% of the industry is privately owned which means you can trace some coffees back to the exact farm.
Geographically, Uganda is a great location to grow coffee, its rich fertile lands with volcanic soil, plenty of rainfall and sun plus farms at altitudes of up to 2500 metres above sea level make perfect coffee growing conditions.
The three main coffee growing regions of Mount Elgon in the east, the Rwenzori Mountains in the southwest, and West Nile in the northwest offer different flavour profiles attributing to the differences in each regions processing methods and terroir.
The Review
The coffee drinking experience starts with the Bukonzo as soon as you open the bag. Rich fruity notes burst out and fill the room with incredible sweet aromas when grinding. It reminded me of trips to France as a kid and some fairly obscure french cake filled with jam, but also brought back memories of jammy dodgers - what a biscuit!
The notes carry into the brewing of the coffee and through to the cup. Blackberry and vanilla layer together even before you have tasted it.
The coffee starts at the front of the sip quite slowly, it has a mild acidity and delicate sweet fruity notes in the middle.
It has a medium body and mouth feel which allows the delicate fruity notes to express themselves.
The coffee cools slightly and more flavours emerge, boozy notes typical of naturally processed coffee layered with peach and undertones of milk chocolate.
A delicious coffee that kept getting better even weeks after it was first opened. The complexities delivered every time and the sweet fruitiness made it a pleasure to drink.
I thought this coffee worked really well in a cafetiere. The sweetness and the fermented flavours of natural coffees really shone through. As always though, thoroughly enjoyed as a pour over.
