*Collaboration with the legends at Commonfolk Coffee Company
What started as a chance encounter sipping quality long black in the depths of Mornington with our Greyhound - buddy has turned into the start of a great relationship with Sam and the crew and a collaboration that has followed.
We are really stoked to be working with Commonfolk, they are some of the most inspiring small business owners we have come across and really set the bar high for quality without compromise while also going above and beyond ethically.
The beans were produced by Zukuka Bora who are the Ugandan coffee company located on Mt Elgon that Commonfolk funded through The Cup That Counts [that's their 20c from every cup initiative]. They're among the first Ugandan producers to push specialty coffee and experimental processing including: traditional washed, honey, natural and anaerobic.
The Unicorn is a very special microlot produced by the Bududa Farming Group. They've been producing Zukuka Bora for three years now and their coffee has a distinct orange sherbet characteristic that makes it unique among their farming partners. It is predominantly the SL14 varietal [Ugandan's endemic Arabica variety] but also has SL28 [a Kenyan variety]. The coffee is processed using the natural processing method [totally unique for Uganda - normally they use the washed method. The coffee is allowed to naturally ferment inside the cherry on raised drying beds for a number of weeks until it reaches the desired moisture level. It is warehoused [in cherry] until milling. This process enhances the fruit and booze characteristics of the coffee and is what sets it apart from other Ugandan coffees. Commonfolk named it The Unicorn because it is essentially mythical and doesn't exist anywhere else in Uganda.
This beer used the same barrel as the majority percentage of 'Our Daily Brett' - Blend # 01. This beer went through primary fermentation in neutral french oak hogsheads (300L) with our favourite Belgian yeast/brett strains and was aged on lees for 4 months. This Barrel (2) exhibited delicate classic saison characters that we thought were perfect to showcase coffee beans without competing with each other.
50L of this base was then racked onto freshly roasted 'The Unicorn' - whole Ugandan coffee beans at the ratio of 20g/L for 72 hours.
Blended and packaged on September 23rd 2020 and bottle conditioned for 12 weeks to achieve ideal carbonation.
Aromas of pear, orange sherbet and moscato. This gives way to a palate full of marmalade, salted choc and cacao husk. Refreshingly carbonated with a dry and slightly saline - velvety mouthfeel.
Given these beans were dubbed 'The Unicorn' as they didn't exist prior, we can't say we've tried a beer quite like this either.
- casey, hannah & buddy