Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
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detrimental to the health of the coffee fi elds in this area. Regardless, the Rugyeyo area has great potential. I believe the quality here begins with the old trees, climate, elevation, and cultivars grown. When speaking with the farmers, I explain the good and the bad, and also give some advice on pruning, or stumping, and fertiliza- tion. Many of the producers here are reluctant to prune or stump due to the two-to-three-year wait for the tree to produce again. We explain to them that the "younger" trees would be much more productive as well as more resistant to rust and other diseases. It is our hope that with better prices for cherry and a stronger relationship with Gorilla Summit, some of these farmers will begin to manage their plants better. After walking the coffee fi elds, we drive back down to the Rugyeyo collection facility about one to two kilometers away, where farmers are beginning to deliver cherry. We are expecting to purchase around 500–800 pounds of cherry. As we wait and watch, producers begin to bring their cherry to the collection point and actually hand-sort over- ripes and green cherry before weighing. I have been working with Gorilla Summit to instruct famers to only pick ripe, and to sort cherry before delivery for four years now, and this the first time I have seen it done (in the past, Gorilla Summit has sorted the cherry at the wet mill). Seeing the farmers sorting their own cherry before weighing is an amazing thing. What is particularly astounding is that Gorilla Summit does not require farmers to hand-sort the cherry on their own. Gorilla Summit only requires that the cherry be of good quality—most- ly ripe red cherry, picked the same day—and they pay a huge premium of between 23 and 34 cents per kilo compared to the previous 3 to 5 cents. Seeing this, I ask Gerald if sorting like this is normal, and he smiles and says, " Yes, as of last harvest, most of the pro- ducers started to do this." Progress. After purchasing about 800 pounds of cherry, we head back to the mill to depulp. Sadly, when we get to Gorilla Summit to process, we have no water as there seems to be a break in the water supply pipe. We mill the coffees with what little water we have and depulp the rest without water, and transfer it to the drying beds for an attempt at a "full-hon- ey." Unfortunately, situations like this are, from my own personal experiences, what makes processing coffee diffi cult not only in Kanungu, but everywhere. We fi nish depulping and head home to unwind and celebrate cherry selection at the collection stations. With so much accomplished thus far at the farm level, Gerald and I feel like it's time for a break before we head back to Kampala. What better way to celebrate our work than to roast half a pig? With some good ol' American ingenuity, we collect a pile of bricks from Gerald's property and form them into a brick oven, marinate the pork overnight, make a tomato-vine- gar-Coke barbecue sauce, heat the char- coal, put the pig on, and wait. Seven hours later, we're in pulled-pork heaven. Over the next three days, we assess the quality and yields of the coffees Gerald processed this year. The fi rst step is to col- lect samples to take back to Kampala. At the factory, we have been keeping all day- lots separate since day one. This makes the process of traceability very easy. All in all, there are 16 different day-lot samples. Sampling of day-lots to assess cup quality and export yield is very important. The information you gain from the exercise gives you insight into whether you should 38 barista magazine