coffee tasting
Gumutindo opened the organisation’s first cupping lab thanks to Fairtrade premiums. Farmers can roast their own coffee beans here, an empowering process as many farmers had never before tasted their own coffee.
The cupping lab enables farmers to check the quality of their coffee and be sure they are providing buyers with exactly what is wanted.
Coffee tasting workshops were held where growers tasted a range of coffees which are available in UK supermarkets. The team were then able to see how their coffee compares to others in the market and to start to identify the different flavours in each of them.
For every shipment of coffee beans, the quality control officer, Lydia, will carry out a tasting to ensure there are no defective beans.
picking out
defective
beans
Checking every bean individually takes time, but these conveyor belts, paid for out of Fairtrade premiums have quickened the process.
It’s essential work, though, to ensure that only the very best quality beans make it into our Mount Elgon coffees.