SHADY LANE

A LIGHT DARK ROAST:
People have been drinking dark roasts for over two-centuries and it seems both short-sighted and careless to ignore history. And yet if you roast too dark, all of the unique flavours of origin are lost and you simply taste the bitter burn and one-dimensional char of the roast process itself.

Shady Lane is a new way of roasting that uses a gentle approach and precise technique to strike a compromise: it engages in our coffee past with an approachable low-acidity  but also showcases the deeply sweet and delicious chocolaty notes possible with particular origins. It is new and old because as the Pavement song concludes, "the worlds collide, but all that we want is a shady lane". 

ORIGIN:
This offering comes from Robert Byaruhanga of Funzo Coffee and 212 farms around the town of Kapchorwa. Funzo roughly translates to ‘learning’, which reflects Robert’s always evolving approach to farming and processing. Land plots in the area are typically a couple acres and contain interlocked crops of coffee, bananas, beans, cocoyam, as well as shade trees, trenches, bunds, vegetative contours and mulch to help with soil erosion. 

FLAVOUR:
Kapchorwa is a perfect fit for Shady because it is richly chocolatey. It reminds me of the gooey middle of a brownie. However, the cup is far from one-dimensional, due to the unique combination of the SL14 & SL28 varietals and the rich volcanic soil at Mount Elgon, the cup also has a delightful ginger and molasses spice that dovetails with its silky vanilla flavour. Coffees from Uganda will often have a pungent earthy wood note, which is faint in Kapchorwa and comes across more as mineral oil and fresh cedar on the nose.