SL14, SL28, Nyasaland · 48h Anaerobic Natural · 1,400–2,000 m.a.s.l.
Norman Mukuru is why Mt. Elgon coffee now reaches people who can taste the difference. An agronomical engineer from Uganda’s far west, he came east to build processing for one of the country’s largest exporters — then stayed to build his own.
Heavy, syrupy body. Very low acidity — the lime is aromatic rather than sharp. The sweetest coffee in the lineup, and the easiest to like.
First time?Start here. If you have never bought a coffee like this, it is the one that needs the least explaining — it tastes like something you have already eaten.
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Starts with this coffee — then 2 lots, hand-picked monthly · Free shipping
$14
Espresso glassbox 1
$12
Dosing ringmonth 2on box 1
$10
Dosing cupmonth 2on box 1
$26
Glass drippermonth 3on box 1
$10
Dosing cupbox 2
$18
Handheld frothermonth 3Pause, skip or cancel anytime
The lot file
Why this lot
What goes wrong
Push whole cherry past its window without control and the sugars keep going until the cup turns boozy — the failure mode every long natural risks.
Forty-eight hours is short as these things go, and that is the point. Stopped here, then dried slowly on raised beds under managed shade, it settles into toffee instead of alcohol.
How to brew it
We roast a single omni profile per lot — light-medium, developed to work in a cone, in a press and in a portafilter. Not a compromise between them: one correct roast for the coffee, then a brew method chosen to suit it.
| Method | Ratio | Water | Grind | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filter | 1:16 | 198 °F | Coarse · 800–1,000 µm | ~3:15 (45 s bloom) |
| Immersion | 1:14 | 190 °F | Medium · 600–800 µm | ~2:45 (45 s bloom) |
| Espresso | 1:2.5 | 198 °F | Fine · 200–300 µm | 28–34 s |
Why lower pressure on espresso. A light-medium omni roast pushed at a full 9 bar throws its acidity and its bitterness at you at once. Pull it at 6–7 bar with an extended 8–12 second pre-infusion — wetting the bed evenly before extraction starts softens both ends and lets the fruit through. No pressure control? Grind a little coarser and pull longer: 1:2.5 rather than 1:2.
Sharp, boozy or thin at the finish? Go one step coarser and drop to 190 °F. Flat or hollow? Go finer first, and only then up to 199 °F. Change one thing at a time.
Rest. We rest every roast 5–7 days before it ships, so it arrives ready. These lots keep opening up after that — give a bag ten days off roast before you judge it.
Same producer, two clocks
Uganda Coffee Yards · 48h Anaerobic Natural
The dessert cup — chocolate fudge, banana flambé, toffee. Cleaner, sweeter, more familiar. Arrival-cupped 86.
You’re hereUganda Coffee Yards · 96h Anaerobic Natural
The lush cup — guava, overripe peach, mulled wine. Deeper fruit, wilder finish. Arrival-cupped 86.25.
Meet the 96h →Meet the producer
From Norman Mukuru's Coffee Yards on Mt. Elgon — a processing hub buying cherry from about 300 smallholder families at Uganda's highest Arabica elevations. He built a coffee giant's operations across Uganda; when it collapsed, he built his own.
Small-batch roasting
How this coffee was made
Uganda · East Mt. Elgon · SL14 · SL28 · Nyasaland · 1,400–2,000 m · Norman Mukuru
Chocolate · Banana flambé · Coconut
SL14, SL28 and Nyasaland red cherries are carefully picked, wet and hand-sorted, then graded.
Whole cherries are sealed for a 48-hour low-oxygen fermentation, to increase cup depth and complexity.
Slowly dried on raised beds, with careful shade control.
Cherries and beans are separated through milling.
Selected beans are roasted with precision to unlock their unique flavour characteristics.
