Tanzania is an East African country known for its vast wilderness areas. They include the plains of Serengeti National Park, a safari mecca populated by the “big five” game (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino), and Kilimanjaro National Park, home to Africa’s highest mountain. Offshore lie the tropical islands of Zanzibar, with Arabic influences, and Mafia, with a marine park home to whale sharks and coral reefs.
This coffee is Tanzania Mbeya AB 2018.
ABOUT THIS COFFEE
This coffee was handpicked by smallholder farmers who are members of the Usongwe, Mwakakum and Umoja wa Songwe cooperatives. The coffee was delivered to central washing stations, where it was inspected to ensure that only red, ripe cherries had been picked. The cherry then went into water tanks, where floaters were removed and pulped separately, and then through a disc pulping machine and finally a fermentation tank, where it rested until the mucilage was off the beans (12 to 24 hours, depending on the weather). The beans were then washed in a washing channel, again separated by weight and then moved to raised drying beds where they were evenly distributed and turned regularly. Drying usually takes 10 to 15 days, again depending on the weather. Once dried to 12 percent moisture, the coffee was transported to the local dry mill, hulled, graded by size, hand-picked or color sorted and prepared for export.
FARMER SPOTLIGHT
Geoffrey George Mbemba lives in the village of Mshewe and is a member of the Mwakakum co-op. He is 30 years old and has been farming for 10 years, since inheriting his 1-acre farm (765 trees) from his father. Geoffrey supports his wife, three children and grandmother with his coffee-production income. Last season he was able to produce 250kgs of green coffee from his farm, earning more than 1 million Tanzania Shillings (about $440) in profit, which he plans to use, in part, to plant another acre in the coming season.
GEOGRAPHY
Mbeya is known as the “bread basket” of Tanzania, since it’s where most of the country’s food is grown. The weather is cooler here, because of the altitude; the rains are consistent from October through April; and the soils is loamy volcanic ash, which provide a good foundation for coffee production.
Grown at an altitude between 1,500–1,750 meters ASL, produces a coffee with citric acidity, smooth body and notes of Cocoa Powder, Brown Spice, Earthy, Black Tea and Dried Fruit.
Cupping score of 82.