The first sniff fills my nose with the aromas of fresh bread and mellow stone fruit. In the cup, it’s thick and round with notes of smoke, dark chocolate, and sassafras. It finishes dry with hints of black cherry and a touch of chocolate.
Aroma: Bread, stone fruit
Body: Thick, round
Cup: Smoke, dark chocolate, sassafras
Finish: Black cherry, chocolate
About this Coffee
GROWER: Smallholder farmers from the Mbinga District
REGION: Mbinga District, Ruvuma Region, Tanzania
ALTITUDE: 1,200 – 1,800 meters
PROCESS: Fully washed and dried on raised beds
VARIETY: N5, N39 (Bourbon)
HARVEST: September - February
SOIL: Volcanic loam
CERTIFICATION: Conventional
Tanzania Ruvuma GrainPro coffee is sourced from family-owned farms organized around Soochak Bush and Tropex, two companies that began collaborating in 1999 to improve coffee production in the Mbinga district of Tanzania. The Mbinga district is located in the southwestern corner of the Ruvuma region and shares a border with Mozambique and Lake Nyasa (also called Lake Malawi), one of the African Great Lakes known for its rich diversity of wildlife.
Soochak Bush and Tropex provide critical support to the small producers, including the operation of a dry mill and logistics to transport and export coffee from the port city of Dar es Salaam, which is more than 1000 kilometers from the Mbinga district. To ensure improved post-harvest processing, Soochak Bush and Tropex have rehabilitated 8 existing wet mills, built 13 new centralized wet mills, and another 8 micro-wet mills. Cherries are hand sorted, soaked so floaters can be removed, depulped, fermented for 2 to 3 days, washed in channels, dried on raised beds, and then sorted again at the dry mill. Farmers are paid for parchment during the harvest and paid a share of profits after export.