Coffee Review: Ugandan Pride

This week the blog has shone the spotlight on Just Coffee Cooperative and their Ugandan Pride coffee.

As you know sales of this coffee will go towards fighting the brutal anti-gay laws in Uganda. This coffee and effort have received a lot of press and attention, and deservedly so. The only thing which hasn't been mentioned is, "How's the coffee?" You can have the best cause in the world behind your coffee, but if the product isn't good, it isn't going to go any further than a supporting good cause. Some coffee with a cause are pretty horrible. Would Just Coffee be one of those?

Come on, this is Just Coffee Cooperative.

Let's start with the basics. Ugandan Pride is a medium roast coffee. According to them, this is "Earthy and assertive with notes of Blueberry and Lemon. It's an organic, shade grown, fair trade coffee. When I interviewed Co- Founder Matt Earley, he mentioned this would be great for the French Press. Well that's our favored way to brew coffee, so that's what I did this morning.

Like a good many African coffees, I get a floral tea-like essence from it. The blueberry taste is very present, in fact I would say it's the strongest flavor you get in this coffee. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't have a blueberry flavoring to it. It's a bright fruitiness which gives you the idea of blueberry.
The lemon flavor felt more like a supplemental taste, it gave the coffee a bit of a tang.

I get a bit nervous about coffee when it's described as Earthy, but this doesn't have an intense Earthy quality. I'm not overly fond of those coffees. As I said, this is a brighter coffee, full of life and body. This is a nice morning coffee, perfect for a slower wake-up morning, or if you're going to have a brunch(it is a gay supportive coffee, and we gays DO like our brunch), this would be a great one to serve to your guests.

How strong is this coffee? As I said this is a slow wake up morning coffee. On our Cher scale of strength(how appropriate for a gay supportive coffee), this is a 7, as in Cher in Burlesque.

The question posed earlier was "Is this more cause than coffee?" I'm happy to say it's a terrific coffee which is supporting a terrific cause. Get this coffee and you will not only enjoy it, but you will be helping many LGBT people in Uganda who are suffering under brutal inhumane laws.

www.justcoffee.coop

Charlie