This summer’s SUNKISS Coffee selection is from a region we see so much potential in. Each year we witness more and more new projects poking their heads up in Uganda and are so happy to continue to explore this world, brimming with promise. 

Enter Norman Mukuru, founder of The Coffee Yards, a well-located processing plant down Mt. Elgon, just outside Mbale town. Coffee Yards is a central delivery point where smallholder farmers can deliver their parchment and cherries for superior handling and prompt payment.

Farmers in this region grow a mix of Kenya-originated varieties, most notably the Scott Lab cultivars SL-14, SL-28 as well as the lesser-known Nyasaland - a Typica offshoot which came to Uganda via Malawi in the early 1900’s.

Ok ok ok, how does this become a coffee that captures the full glory of Summer, you ask? ☀️ 

This particular lot from The Coffee Yards employed a bit of fermentation + production wizardry, using what they call “Short-Drip” + “Aerobic” + “Natural” processing. Typical dry (natural) processing uses NO water, where short-drip in this case refers to a minimal period of water fermentation PLUS oxygen exposure. Multi-stage processing like this has the potential to lead to some OFF-putting results. In the hands of Nelson and his team? QUITE lovely and particularly summer-filled!

Think back to one of those perfect peak-summer days: poolside, shade up, chair reclined, book out, humidity THICK, toes roasting, freshly out of the water. Then someone hands you the most deliciously refreshing Strawberry Lemonade you’ve ever tasted.

That’s Sunkiss 2026. Consider summer officially extended. 💦