Producers: 116 farmers
Farm: Zombo district (NW), Ndhew microstation
MASL: 1445
Processing: Natural
Variety: SL14
FIGS, COLA, RASPBERRY, DARK CHOCOLATE
Zombo operates in one of the country's poorest regions in the West Nile, and farmers, mostly Alhur people, grow most of their own food and have a hundred coffee trees in their fields. Before Zombo, however, coffee was something like a cash machine for most farmers. They still needed to see what improving quality could offer them. Or, as Aggrey puts it: "Farmers used to look at coffee as something falling from their trees. They used to only look at coffee when the season came."
Over the past years, results have started to spread and manifest. Zombo has managed an exponential price increase and solid growth. But, sadly, large exporters are all too aware of this situation, and when they heard that Zombo was paying higher prices and making farmers co-owners of their company, they decided to outbid them. What will happen when they force Zombo to close down? They can return to their usual practice of squeezing farmers with shamefully low prices and no competition. The importer's job is to not let that happen…
Cherries are harvested, hand-sorted and floated. Instead of being pulped like a “washed” coffee, it is dried inside the cherry. It takes more time and more space than washed coffee to produce a good natural. That means considerably more investment by the microstation in drying space, and Zombo helps with this. - This Side Up & Jokes Aside Coffee Roasters