Tanzania Single Origin

Description

Tanzanian Coffee Beans creates a smooth, citric body with a chocolatey aftertaste. With one of the smaller names in the African coffee industry, Tanzania will surprise you with its smooth well-rounded cup. A stand-out single origin, leaving a chocolate taste behind, especially when a little bit of milk is used. Good for beginners leaning into interesting single origins. Tis is a medium roast.

This coffee is a blend from two regions in the South of Tanzania, Mbeya & Mbinga. The modern people of Mbinga are descendants of the Ngoni, who farmed and fought their way up from
Southern Africa, through Mozambique and Malawi; some settled as they went, others eventually reached Southern Tanzania. Natural conditions and a history of farming set the scene for Mbinga to become an important coffee region of Tanzania. By 2000 Mbinga was producing 6,000 MT of coffee and was the country’s 4th largest coffee region. By 2018/19 production had grown to an impressive 17,000 MT; placing Mbinga in poll position. Mbeya is positioned to the North of lake Nyasa (Malawi). Coffee was introduced to the Songwe Mbeya region by German missionaries, and as with much of Tanzania’s early planting, the variety was KP423. This was joined by N39; both are types of Bourbon coffee. Mbeya coffee is renowned for a
stable and fruity cup. Water is often scarce when the harvest is taking place resulting in “home processing” being the traditional methodology.

We recently established an office in Tanzania and can now have a much more direct impact on the ground. The following paragraphs of summaries of our current priorities: Until recently certified systems had helped guide Mbinga’s coffee development. By 2018 Mbinga’s production had almost tripled in less than fifteen years, yet 80% of farms were still not in a certified supply chain. The land that accommodated this expansion was often forest, and trees that would have provided vital shade have been felled at an alarming rate (as can be seen by Mbuji Rock to the right). We need to address this as a matter of priority. We see the re-introduction of certification, shade trees and CPUs as crucial steps in providing stability to the coffee farming economics of Mbinga.

Mbeya is populated by lots of small CPU’s. On average a CPU will generate less than 2 containers of coffee, this helps with the access for the farmers, however it means that supply from one CPU is
limited at best. We are investing in one central pulping unit in Mbeya, which has the capacity to produce up to 4 containers of fully washed Tanzanian Coffee Beans.