GUMUTINDO COOPERATIVE
Mt Elgon, Uganda
Gumutindo means "excellent quality" in the local Lugosi language.
CERTIFIED FAIR-TRADE AND ORGANIC BEANS
Roasted in NZ by Rosa Coffee
Rosa Coffee Supports The SPINZS Fund (Sanitary Products in New Zealand Schools)
We will donate $10 from the sale of every kilo ($2 for every 200g bag) of Gumutindo roasted coffee beans to SPINZS.
Find out more here.
"Coffee is the only crop that has paid us enough consistently to enable us to achieve healthcare and education, improve our homes and invest in clean water and energy in our communities."
Gumutindo Coffee Cooperative Enterprise
Who are Gumutindo?
Over 10,000 small plot farmers are part of the cooperative, including over 2,000 women organised in 17 village level primary societies.
They live and farm on the misty ridges and in the lush upland valleys of Africa's largest, extinct volcano: the majestic Mt. Elgon in Eastern Uganda.
See below for more background on the coffee, the Gumutindo story and some selected photos from the cooperative (thank you Gumutindo for permission to use the photos and text!).
Gumutindo beans have been widely used by NZ roasters as well as by roasters in the UK, US and elsewhere.
The Roasted Coffee
This has been our favourite bean for a long time now.
Smooth, mellow coffee and milk chocolatey.
Small batch, air roasted to order by Rosa Coffee, with a little help from the sun and other renewable energy.
Two roast styles - medium and medium-dark roasts. Both are suitable for all brew methods.
Medium-dark roast particularly suitable if you want the darker taste or are having espresso with milk.
LIMITED STOCK
Extreme weather and its impact on production and Gumutindo's business means they cannot process and export further coffee at present.
They are working with partners to find a way forward and enable them to trade. The best case scenario would be that they export coffee again from their next (2017/18) harvest.
We wish them the best for the future. We'll update you when we hear more.
Who Grew This Particular Coffee?
The particular coffee we have on offer is from the Buginyanya primary society, one of the founding members of the Gumutindo coffee co-operative. It is also the largest primary society with over 1400 individual members.
Members of the the Buginyanya primary society
Buginyanya is situated at an altitude of 2200 metres above sea level on the north-eastern slopes of Mt. Elgon.
Farmers have between 2- 4 hectares of land each with 300 coffee trees and grow traditional East African arabica coffee varieties like Nyasaland (commonly known as Bugisu local).
They also grow other crops like maize, beans, yams and bananas among the coffee trees.
Women Are Heavily Involved In The Cooperative
"Our women's coffee project is enabling us to achieve greater equality in our relationships and helping us to shape our futures."
"With our own land and finances we can make plans: for improving our coffee quality, our families' prospects and our homes."
[Quotes from Gumutindo]
The coffee by female coffee farmer members is sold separately as ‘Women’s Coffee’ and the premiums go directly to the female members.
The premiums give an additional incentive to produce good quality coffee plus it helps them to pay for school fees and learning materials for their children, and invest in other income generating activities.
There are equal numbers of women and men on Gumutindo’s board.
Gumutindo has also been working on a Gender Justice pilot programme with the assistance of Bukonzo Joint Co-operative - another Ugandan cooperative.
Who Imported The Coffee?
We sourced this coffee from Trade Aid New Zealand and one of the key reasons for this was their commitment to fair trade, high-level of transparency in the supply chain, and support for the communities.
Trade Aid is a New Zealand not for profit organisation that has a vision of "A world where trade is fair for all".
For more information on Trade Aid and how their coffee programme supports farmers, see www.tradeaid.org.nz/trade/coffee-roasters/
TRADE AID - BUILDING JUST AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES THROUGH FAIR TRADE
Selected Photos Of Growing, Harvesting And Processing at Gumutindo
Coffee Seedlings In Nursery
Ripe, Red, Coffee Cherries Ready For Picking (each cherry has 2 coffee beans inside)
Picking Ripe Coffee Cherries
Removing Any Unripe Coffee Cherries
Coffee Beans At The Washing Station
Coffee Beans On Drying Tables
Sorting Through The Dried Coffee Beans
The Finished Product - Dried Green Beans Ready For Bagging
