Green Coffee Offerings : Africa : Tanzania


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About Tanzanian Coffee

Tanzania Coffee
Map of Tanzania
 
Mt Kilimanjaro
Coffee Farms:
Total = ?
90% Smallholder
10% plantation
Harvest Times:
October to February
Coffee Workers:
270,000
Grading,
Processing :
AA (14% of crop)
A (24% of crop)
Lowest= HP, coffee from ground + debris
Shade Grown:
Mixed: Coffee is grown with bananas for shade
Certified Organic:
None certified: small coffee farms raise coffee as cash crop, cows and goats (fertilizer, food) and subsistance crops, fruits/vegetables
Major Coffee Growing Regions:

Moshi District: sides of Mt. Kilimanjaro
Arusha: Meru
Oldeani.
Pare: High Plateau between Lakes Nyassa and Taganyika, Songea -Ruvuma (South at Lake Malawi)

Rank in Production::
8th in Africa
24th in World
Botanical Cultivars:
Kents,
Bourbon, Typica/Nyara, Blue Mountain
Introduced:
1893, Bourbon arabica introduced by the Jesuits; Kents introduced in 1920

The Tanzania coffee character belongs to the Central/East African family of washed (wet-processed) coffees, bright (acidic), and almost aggressively flavorful. Kenya is certainly the dominant coffee, but Tanzania has also pushed ahead and shows many of the same positive qualities of Kenya.

Peaberries are often sorted out and sold at high premiums, but the cup is sometimes tainted and not worth the price. It has become a novelty coffee, and sells well in the US, so many roasters capitulate. Yes, it is a coffee with great potential but shipments arriving in the US do not always express that truly excellent Tanzanian cup. One possibility is the coffee ages (or is steamed essentially) in shipping containers on its way to port, since Tanzania does not have the infrastructure of Kenya. Every so often I cup a really good example of this coffee, but some years are a complete bust. The problem is that Tanzania has realized it gets a premium for its peaberry no matter the quality ... so what's the incentive to actually pick and care for the coffee better, to prevent this defective character?

Blackburn Estate from Ngorogoro has been a consistently good arrival, the highest rated Tanzania in recent memory. Ruvuma district has been a solid cup, with the generic "Northern" coffees, and Kibo having that off, baggy, "steamed in the container" note. The Southern type is clean cup, zesty, albeit mild next to the Kenyas. In the past, we had micro-lots from Nkoanekoli and Ngorongoro that represent progress from the other regions.

So keep in mind that if there is a current Tanzanian offering listed here, it had to overcome my cynicism and must be pretty damn good. Of the good Tanzanian coffees there are northern regions around Mt. Kilimanjaro, Moshi, Mbeya region and Southern Songea region that drains into the Ruvuma river and Ruvuma Basin.


Our Tanzanian Offerings:

Please refer to our Reference Page for definitions of terms and cupping numbers used below. Check out the Sweet Maria's Coffee Home Roasting Forum for more conversation about home roasting this and other coffees..

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Tanzania Mbinga Ruvuma Flatbean
$5.60$10.64$24.36$46.48$86.24
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We have offered Tanzania coffees from the northern and southern areas, depending on weather patterns in the year, the chronic water problems in Tanzania, and the transportation issues to get the coffee out of the country without damaging it! I feel that, as far as Tanzania goes, you have to remain open-minded and flexible as to where the best coffee lots can originate due to all these factors. Here we found a nice lot from the Ruvuma area in the south, what is known as the Mbinga district with Songea town as the commerce capital. Coffees in the south have some advantages of better drying conditions and better access to transportation. They are classic wet process coffees, with the distinction being that fermentation to remove the fruity mucilage layer around the parchment and seed is very long. They tend to ferment for 2-3 days, with water being replaced to slow the fermentation activity. This is partly done for logistics as well; coffees are dried on raised beds as in Kenya, and there is only so much room on the beds at any given time. The long soak in water serves to hold coffees until they can be laid out under the sun. Flatbean? There is so much Peaberry (aka round bean) from Tanzania, we fell like when we offer a non-peaberry lot we need to be clear it's a flatbean!

This is a classic Tanzania, with acidity more muted than a Kenya, and perhaps a slight "East Africa wild note" lingering in the finish. The dry ground coffee has a molasses sweet smell, slight floral suggestions and an apple fruit note. The wet aroma has a rustic note, but an interesting brown bread sweetness too. Darker roasts have berry fruit, while the lighter City+ level had floral-herbal scent, like a very nice shampoo(!) The cup is moderately bright, but not with those Kenya-like acidity levels. The body stands out as intense and rather creamy. Light roasts had nice aromatics, but it is the darker levels, toward 2nd crack, that have the best cup. There is a pleasant roast bittersweet tang, soft chocolate, which pairs well with the berry-like fruit hint at this slightly darker level. There's a black pepper spice accent as this FC+ roast cools - a nice ending for the cup.





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Testing coffee in the fermentation tank to see if it is ready to wash and dry.
Country: Tanzania
Grade: AAA 18+ screen
Region: Mbinga, Ruvuma, South Tanzania
Mark:
Processing: Wet Process
Crop: June 2010 Arrival
Appearance: .2 d/300gr, 18+ Screen
Varietal: Arusha, and Hybrids
Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Sweet, berry note, chocolate
Roast: Full City to Full City+ : Lighter roasts had nice aromas, but the cup flavors were best headed toward 2nd crack, FC to FC+
Compare to: East African brightness (Kenya-like) with a milder, less acidic cup overall than most coffees from the Kenya plateau.
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Archived Reviews

To view reviews for out of stock coffees, visit our Tanzania Coffee Archives.


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