Tanzania AB - Mandomashe

Chocolate, golden kiwi, caramel, kumquat
TOP LOT
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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2023/24
Status Spot
Lot Number P613078-1
  • 40 Bag(s)
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About This Coffee

Mandomashe is a farmer group in the southern highlands of Tanzania, Mbozi district, serving four producer villages of Mandenga, Ndola, Mafumbo and Sheya (the first syllable of each village combines to create the group name). With over 150 member farmers and 150 non-members contributing cherry to the washing station (known locally as a CPU) at Mafumbo village, the group produces 20 to 50 tons of parchment per season. Bourbon, Kent, and hybrid varieties from Tanzania Coffee Research Institute are grown at an average elevation of 1600 masl. 

At harvest time, hand-picked cherry is pulped within 8 hours, then fermented for 12 hours in tanks where clean water is refreshed through the process. After the mucilage is removed, grading and sorting is done via washing channels before the parchment is conveyed to raised beds for drying. Moisture levels are consistenly monitored on the tables until the coffee is ready to be bagged and taken to the mill. 

Country of Origin Tanzania
Region Mbozi
Producer Type Washing Station
Farm Name Various producers
Co-Op Mandomashe AMCOS
Processing Washed
Processing Description 12hr fermentation, sun-dried on raised beds
Growing Altitude 1600m
Harvest Season 2023/24
Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species Arabica
Variety Bourbon, Kent, KP423, 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 Mbozi
  • Farm Name Various producers
  • Producer Type Washing Station
  • Processing Washed
  • Processing Description 12hr fermentation, sun-dried on raised beds
  • Bag Type Grain Pro / Ecotact
  • Plant Species Arabica
  • Variety Bourbon, Kent, KP423, N39
  • Min Growing Altitude 1600m
  • Co-Op Mandomashe AMCOS
  • On Sale No
  • Top Lot Yes
  • Status Spot
  • Coffee Grade TZA CA WA AB
  • CTRM Contract Number P613078-1
  • Country of Origin Tanzania
  • Warehouse The Annex CA