A Sweet, Warming (and fruity) Brew

As I write this, the summer is fading into fall and I find myself needing something a bit warmer to get me through the day. This coffee from Hama certainly fits the mood, being a bean that not only warms you up but is also quite sweet (if you put sugar in your coffee better hold back with this one). Smelling these beans reminds me of a (hot?) mixed berry smoothie with aromas of summery white and yellow flowers. There’s a fall aftertaste of sweet tangerines layered into the cup as well.

Why Is Hama So Sweet?

Grown in the birthplace of Arabica coffee, coffees here enjoy an average temperature ranging from 16.5 to 18.5 °C and an annual rainfall of around 1600 ml (that’s not much). Trying to mature coffee cherries in such a cold environment greatly prolongs the maturation process, resulting in a high concentration of sugar. 

Local producers employ natural processing (leaving the pulp on the bean) for 21 days during the dry season. This further concentrates the sugar and ferments the pulp, embedding a fruity acidity in the resulting beans. Careful hand-picking then safeguards the quality, ensuring a sweet and fruity coffee.

Coffee from Bugisu is grown high up on the slopes of Mount Elgon. The coffee cherries here hail from the Bourbon varietal and definately-named-by-a-scientist-not-a-marketer varietals of SL-14 and SL-28. These varietals do particularly well at high-altitudes and harsh environments. Sharp temperature differences between the days and nights force the cherries to grow slowly over an extra-long maturation period. The result of this slow development process is higher sugar content and a thick body that is rare for an East African coffee.