Are we nuts?
This weekend I receive a serious and legitimate inquiry via email. On our website, we describe Mirembe coffee as “A sweet, nutty coffee from Uganda with notes of pecan and nutmeg, and a lingering sensation of malty antiquity.” The question arose, “What suggestions do you have for a nut-free facility?”
No need to worry. The description of the coffee is more about taste and character, than an actual outline of ingredients. In the coffee world, we use certain words to describe the texture, taste, aroma, feeling, etc. of the sensation of the coffee experience. We talk about floral notes like jasmine, even though there really aren’t any flowers in the coffee. When we talk about acidity, we are really just talking about the tingly feeling that lingers on our tongues after we swallow. We mentioned notes of pecan and nutmeg because when we taste the coffee it brings us back to Thanksgiving time and on our pallets we can taste the subtleties that are associated with pecan pie.
There are no nuts in the coffee. There are undertones, which are less intense than notes, and notes are different than hints. Basically, it’s just coffee talk. The only thing in the Ugandan Mirembe Coffee, is coffee. It is not flavored with anything but love and hard work. Coffee tasting and descriptions are much like wine. If you read a wine label it might say hints of melon, or notes of cedar, when really all that’s in the bottle are fermented grapes.
Thanks for bearing with us. Although the coffee is nut-free, I make no claim that we aren’t a little nuts (it keeps things fun on this end).
Best,
Holly