Uganda Rwenzori Coffee
New Coffee of the Month from East Africa
Ari Weinzweig, CEO & Co-Founder of Zingerman’s
| While so much has been turned topsy turvy over the last year, one thing that has provided comfort and consistency throughout has been the quality of the beans at the Coffee Company. In fact, I would venture to say, through all the ups and down of the last twelve months, the coffee has actually gotten better. The April Coffee of the Month—from the mountains of southwest Uganda—is pretty darned amazing. Coffee originates to the north of Uganda in Ethiopia—it’s grown wild there for far longer than humans have been consuming it. Coffee is a relatively recent arrival in Uganda, essentially part of the same Industrial Age push to identify export crops that brought coffee to Central and South America. Today Uganda produces about 4% of the world’s coffee, tiny by the standards of say Brazil, but about four times where it was in the early years of the 20th century. |
The Rwenzori mountains where these beans are grown are near the country’s western border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and to the north of the Rwandan frontier. You’ll see the mountains on the map about halfway between Lake Stanley and Lake Edward, to the west of Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake). The mountains range up to 16,000 feet, and the coffee is grown in the lower (but still high) altitudes in the shade of banana trees, which protect the delicate coffee cherries from “burning” in the sun. The coffee is a “natural process”—dried in the sun—which concentrates the sweetness and the flavor in a way that I love.
Steve Mangigian, long time managing partner at the Coffee Company, says, “We immediately loved the fruitiness of this coffee. That’s what caught my attention. It exemplifies the characteristics of great East African coffee.” Juicy peach notes (speaking of which, the Peach Truck is coming to town this summer), maybe you could say even a bit of nectarine. It’s nicely chocolatey and terrifically tasty. It’s very good straight out of the Fetco pots at the Coffee Company, Roadhouse, and Deli. If you’re at the Coffee Company it is particularly chocolatey in a pourover and delicately delicious brewed in a syphon pot. Add a piece of the Bakehouse’s marvelous Mandelbread or a Big O Oatmeal Raisin cookie and bring a bit of beauty to your day!
Excerpt from Ari’s weekly Top 5 E-Newsletter. To stay in-the-know about things that Ari is excited about in the Zingerman’s family, sign up here!
ZINGERMAN’S COFFEE COMPANY – SERVICE UPDATE
To our wonderful guests,
We want to share with you our updated service guidelines here at Zingerman’s Coffee Company:
- We will be closed on Friday, April 9th & Saturday, April 10th after having received notification that one of our staff members tested positive for Covid-19. During this time, we will sanitize our retail space above and beyond the guidelines set forth by Washtenaw County Health Department.
- Out of an abundance of caution, along with the recent request from Governor Whitmer, we are pausing indoor dining and seating for the next two weeks. You’re welcome to enjoy the nice weather on our patio and dine outside!
- As always, you are required to wear a mask. While in line or otherwise in the cafe, do not remove your mask to eat or drink.
- We are pausing our toast bar and hand-brew offerings for now.
- You can order online for in-store pick-up via our Square store. Ordering via Snackpass and GrubHub will be paused for now as well.
– We plan to re-open on Sunday, April 11th, 7am-4pm –
We’ll stay in touch with updates on our service guidelines as we adjust our staffing in the coming days. We are beyond grateful for your support and patronage in these difficult times.
Warmly,
Zingerman’s Coffee Company team