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Africa: Tanzania


Tanzania Coffee
Map of the Tanzania
 
Mt Kilimanjaro
 
 
 
 

Current Crop Comments:

Blackburn Estate from Ngorogoro has been a favorite 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. We have received 2 peaberry small lots from the south and they are very fruited, winey, complex. Last season we had micro-lots from Nkoanekoli and Ngorongoro that represent progress from the other regions. There is a lot of chaff in the coffee, which has no bearing on cup quality. We cupped a bunch of peaberry lots and they had the typical "transportation problems", that is, coffee that had been baked or steamed in transit. The problem is that Tanzania has realized it gets a premium for its peaberry nomatter the quality ... so what's the incentive to actually pick and care for the coffee better, to prevent this defective character?

 

In terms of the Tanzania coffee character, it belongs to the Central/East African family of washed (wet-processed) coffees, bright (acidy), and mostly aggressively flavorful of which Kenya is certainly the dominant coffee. 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 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. 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.

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
 

Our Tanzanian Offerings: Please refer to our Reference Page for definitions of terms and cupping numbers used below.

Tanzania Blackburn Estate AA
Country: Tanzania Grade: AA Region: NgoroNgoro Area Mark: Blackburn Estate
Processing: Wet-Processed Crop: July 2008 Arrival Appearance: .6 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: Arusha, Bourbon
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 4 Notes: Blackburn Estate is one of the higher elevation farms in Tanzania, and produces great coffee. But they face chronic water problems due to the local terrain, and higher transportation costs because they are more remote from the dry mills in Moshi. They also face unique vandalism problems due to the fact they are so near beautiful Ngorongoro Conservation Area: water buffalo and elephants. In search for water, elephants uproot water pipes bringing that precious resource to the farm. Water buffalo take a more direct route: they just step on the coffee shrubs, smashing the woody growth, shattering the trunks. Blackburn Estate has been a Black Apron selection from Big Green (aka Starbucks) and to give them credit where due, they have aided greatly in water projects for the farm and the people in local communities. I have cupped Blackburn in the distant past, and it faces some of the typical problems of all Tanzania coffees; it is sometimes damaged in transit out of the country by heat and excess humidity at port. However, this small lot is, well, look at the numbers ... our highest rated Tanzania ever. The dry fragrance has winey fruit, boysenberry, sweet molasses syrup. Wet aromatics are very sweet, fruited, winey. The cup is bright and Kenya-like, but not as sour in acidity as most Kenyas. It has qualities of the Gethumbwini lots (when they are good). The cup is juicy and has cane sugar and panela (brown sugar cakes) sweetness. The body is sufficient, not super heavy or texturous. The cup is dominated by juicy berry fruit, and this undeniable sweetness, which lingers well into the aftertaste. The fruit has this very ripe, winey character, Syrah-like, but is not at all vinegary or fermenty (what happens when ripe fruited notes turn to bad overripe fruity notes). Initially, the intensity of the hot cup seems low, actually. Sweetness, fruit and winey flavors come to the foreground as the cup cools, along with that slight East African wild note, a bit dusty and hidey.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.7
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9.3
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5) 3.5
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 2 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Fruited, winey, sweet!  coffee flavor analysis
add 50 50 Roast: City+ to Full City+. This can take a darker roast, Vienna too. Espresso possibilities at darker roast levels.
Score (Max. 100) 91 Compare to: Winey East Africa cup character, berry notes, sweet and winey.

Tanzania
Blackburn Estate AA
$6.10add to cart $11.59add to cart $26.54add to cart $50.63add to cart $93.94add to cart


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