Coffee Story
This year, Holiday Espresso combines two community lots from famous growing regions: Mount Elgon in Uganda and Santa Barbara in Honduras.
Uganda Sipi
Sipi Falls is a renowned landmark in Uganda, famous for producing high-quality coffee. The Sipi Falls coffee project involves more than 5,000 smallholder producers cultivating sustainable coffee across 2,000 hectares. Through this project, producers build strong community relationships, receive education and training to improve sustainable agricultural practices, and implement techniques such as cultivating coffee under shaded trees and using water recycling systems. Coffee from the highest-altitude community, Gamatui, is taken to the Sipi Falls Washing Station in Chema, known for its meticulous attention to detail and high-altitude processing, resulting in complex yet balanced coffee profiles.
The majority of the coffee from Sipi Falls undergoes a unique processing method using an eco-pulper, which efficiently removes the coffee's sticky mucilage without fermentation. This method uses less water compared to traditional washing processes, reflecting the commitment to sustainable agriculture. However, the coffee's unique qualities are preserved through fermentation, which is carried out differently at each farm or washing station, adding distinct character to the coffee. Sipi Falls also produces a small number of micro lots with extended fermentation before eco-pulping, with recent years seeing a focus on these extended fermentation lots. This specific organic-certified lot is grown between 1600 and 2200 MASL by 104 smallholder farmers (64% women) as part of the Sipi Community on the northern slope of Mount Elgon. It is a washed, processed, mixed variety of Nyasland, SL-14, and SL-28.
Honduras Cabanas
Honduras Cabanas is a field blend of Lempira, Catuai and Pache. The washed lot is dried on raised African-style beds and circulated every 30 minutes for 15 days to ensure proper drying. The Cabanas Rise Series is an initiative to support and assist smaller producing communities in their efforts to enhance coffee quality by purchasing larger volumes at premium prices. The series is a joint effort between our partner importer, Collaborative Coffee and the Paz family's Beneficio San Vicente in Honduras. The goal is to support these up-and-coming farmers in the Cabanas region by providing milling & logistics services, and actively working with them on new strategies to enhance farm-level practices and cup quality.
