Tanzania AA - Mbewe

Asian pear, honey crisp apple, grape, good body
TOP LOT
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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2023/24
Status Spot
Lot Number P613036-1
  • 22 Bag(s)
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About This Coffee

Mbewe AMCOS (Agricultural and Marketing Cooperative Society) was founded in 2018 with 170 initial members contributing home-processed coffees. In 2024 they constructed a washing station, locally referred to as a Centralized Processing Unit (CPU), which accepts cherry from the nearby villages. In that first year, they processed 16 tons of coffee cherries from 166 farmers, and have plans to invest in more equipment and further increase output. After cherry is received at the Mbewe CPU, it is pulped and sorted, then fermented for 24-36 hours prior to washing. After washing, parchment is dried on raised beds for 7-14 days on average. 

Country of Origin Tanzania
Region Songwe, Mbozi
Producer Type Washing Station
Farm Name Various smallholders
Processing Washed
Processing Description 24-36hr fermentation, sun-dried on raised beds
Harvest Season 2023/24
Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species Arabica
Variety Bourbon, N39

History of Coffee in Tanzania

Like other coffee growing regions in East Africa, it seems likely that coffee may have been known as a garden crop grown for barter and consumption (chewing rather than brewing) as early as the 16th century. German occupiers introduced commercial cultivation of at the end of the 19th century and coffee became an exported cash crop. Following WWI, the British took control of the region and the estate model was firmly established for coffee. During the transition years from British “protection” to independence, coffee farming cooperative began to emerge and would eventually dominate coffee production after formal independence in 1961. Today, 95% of coffee farmers are smallholders, growing coffee on less than 5 acres of land.

Growing Coffee in Tanzania

Exports from nearly every coffee growing country in Africa are lower now than they were twenty years ago. The most notable exception is Ethiopia, where coffee exports have reached 3 million bags, nearly double the number in 1997. Less dramatic, but nevertheless unique for Africa, is the strong and steady growth in Tanzania. Taking the average number of bags exported annually 2007-2017—to account for crop fluctuations—Tanzania experienced an increase of 11 percent over the previous 10 years. That might not seem like much until you consider that only two other African countries have experienced growth by the same measure, Ethiopia (37%) and Uganda (1%). Tanzania broke the million bags exported ceiling for the first time in 2009 and did it again in 2013. This increase in exports has coincided with a near 600 percent increase in domestic coffee consumption over twenty years. The only coffee growing country to experience a more dramatic increase is Vietnam, where domestic coffee consumption has grown by 700 percent over the same period.

  • Region Songwe, Mbozi
  • Farm Name Various smallholders
  • Producer Type Washing Station
  • Processing Washed
  • Processing Description 24-36hr fermentation, sun-dried on raised beds
  • Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
  • Plant Species Arabica
  • Variety Bourbon, N39
  • On Sale No
  • Top Lot Yes
  • Status Spot
  • Coffee Grade TZA CA WA AA
  • CTRM Contract Number P613036-1
  • Country of Origin Tanzania
  • Warehouse Continental NJ