Tanzania Peaberry Mbili Twiga

About:

This coffee is the culmination of the hard work of 2 smallholder producers from neighbouring regions in Tanzania. One of which is the RCS Cooperative who are licensed to handle larger Estates as well as the exportation process. Around 90% of the coffee produced in Tanzania is produced by smallholder farmers with less than 1 Hectare of land. 110 Estates are responsible for the other 10%.

Karatu Estate

Region: Arusha
Elevation: 1700 – 1800m
Varietal: Bourbon

Owned and managed by Ladslaus Alfred, the farm borders Ngorongoro National Park and is largely shaded by Acacia trees. Dark, volcanic soil provides the ideal nutrients. With over 200 Hectares of coffee, peak season will see employment for around 500 workers from the area.

The cherries are picked and brought to the processing station where they are washed and fermented for 36 – 42 hours.

The Makiidi RCS Cooperative

Region: Kilimanjaro
Elevation:1500 – 1750m
Varietal: Kent

The Cooperative was established in 1983 and has 1500 members. The average farmer in the Rombo district has 1 hectare of land, with around half a hectare producing coffee. Local challenges with central processing means that this coffee is ‘home processed’: picked, pulped, fermented and washed on the farm, before drying under the sun on patios or raised beds.

Tanzania also has a reputation for producing high quality Peaberry coffee, this is screen sorted from the rest of the crop and then graded separately. 300 bags of Peaberry are produced by this Cooperative every year.

Washed Processing Explained:

The most popular way of processing coffee. The fruit flesh is mechanically removed with a machine known as a depulper, the beans are then put into a tank to ferment. The amount of time it takes to ferment depends on climate factors such as altitude and temperature. In hotter region the fermentation will be quicker and vice versa, the process typically takes between 24 – 72 hours. One complete, the coffee beans are then dried on patios or raised beds.
Flavour profile: Light body, retains the citrus and floral flavours