MONTHLY SPECIAL - Uganda, Rwenzori, Clarke Farm, Natural
white chocolate ~ strawberry ~ calvados
Every month, our resident Q Grader and third-generation Wogan, James, searches the world to find a coffee that is ‘weird and wonderful’, and truly excites. A micro-lot, a great back-story, an impressive cooperative, or a particularly unusual taste; once it's gone, it's gone.
We keep the prices of these extraordinary coffees down, so that you have the chance to try something that you might not be able to get your hands on otherwise.
The farm
Clarke Farm is an eco-friendly farm and coffee estate (predominantly producing Robusta) in Katambale, Uganda. Dr IanClarke is expansive in his thinking and having lived in Uganda for 35 years and a dual national, wants to impact more than his sphere. Originally opening hospitals and medical centres as well as a university, he began to notice the impact improving coffee would have on the population.
Dr Clarke therefore created a commercial hub farm with coffee processing facilities which acts as an offtaker centre, and also where he can grow his own coffee and demonstrate good agricultural practice. The farm provides employment for at least 600 people.
The second area of his focus is Arabica from the foothills of Rwenzori (where this coffee comes from). This involves having a network trained on good agronomy and precise picking. They also grow macadamia, eucalyptus, maize, potatoes, mangoes and oranges and have planted indigenous trees to remake a small forest as well as stopped the felling by charcoal makers of a neighbouring forest. With the new trees amongst the coffee, they aim to provide 30% shade. Stretching across the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains, a smallholder farm here is on average just under 0.2 hectares and somewhere around 200 plants. Most are located close to the house, though some are away too. Altitudes stretch between 1600 and 2500 masl, with harvest running from late August through to November. Smallholders will have other crops too, such as bananas or beans, and may keep goats or poultry as livestock.
Why Wogan?
Ethical
We work closely with farms worldwide to make sure that coffee farmers are paid a fair price, through Fairtrade and our own Direct Trade certifications. Working hard with coffee farmers to improve their lives and the lives of their families.
Sustainable
We maintain long term relationships with our carefully selected coffee farms, to provide the stability they need to plan for the future. The added bonus? Coffee that improves with every single crop, as their farming practices and equipment improves.
LDPE4 Recyclable
Helping you to do your bit. Our bags are LDPE4 recyclable, meaning they can be recycled in supermarkets. Alternatively, you can check with your Local Authority to see if they will collect it for you. Green lights include mentions of; bread bags, frozen food bags, squeezable bottles, bubble wrap, and carrier bags.
Carbon Pledge
We've pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030, and we're already well on the way. Our warehouses are now powered by solar panels, with the extra juice fuelling our fleet of electric vehicles.
Sustainable and ethical
We've made it this generation's mission to put sustainability at the forefront. We’ve pledged to be Carbon Neutral by 2030 and are well on our way to getting there. LDPE4 recyclable bags, a Roastery powered entirely by solar energy, and a hell of a lot more.
our story
We, at Wogan Coffee, have been lovingly hand-roasting speciality, ethical, sustainable and traceable coffees since 1970. In our third generation, and a wholly independent family company, you can find us rooted in Bristol; the same city as when Mr Wogan established the business over fifty years ago. Laura and James, grandchildren of the bowler hatted gentleman, now have the ropes firmly in their grasp; James as our resident Q Grader in the Bristol Roastery Headquarters, and Laura in London.
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