Tanzania: AA Sambewe - Microlot

Washed Process∙Medium Roast

Mellow fresh melon, peanut butter, and malt flavors with mild syrupy sweetness.

Grown at 1616 Meters Above Sea Level (MASL)

This month's Origin Select coffee is a remarkable microlot from the Mbozi District of southwestern Tanzania, known coffee production, high-altitude terrain, and the massive Mbozi Meteorite. Bordering Kenya and located near Ethiopia, Tanzania has a long and rich relationship with coffee cultivation. Although Robusta coffee was already being grown, German colonists introduced Arabica as a commercial crop in the late 19th century. Its cultivation spread throughout the country, and the coffee industry developed around the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

     Following the First World War, British rule brought efforts to modernize and expand the coffee sector. In the 1920s, smallholder farmers began forming cooperatives to improve market access and strengthen their bargaining power. After Tanzania gained independence in 1964, the government encouraged rapid growth in coffee production during the 1970s, though these efforts met with limited success. By the 1990s, reforms privatized coffee exports, allowing farmers to sell more directly and receive better returns. Today, Tanzania is especially renowned for its distinctive peaberry coffees, though exceptional microlots like this one continue to showcase the country's incredible quality.

     This coffee comes from the Sambewe AMCOS (Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society), a cooperative of more than 440 smallholder farmers from the villages of Sambewe, Itumpi, Nansama, Iyenga, and Ileya. The farmers cultivate a diverse mix of varieties, including Blue Mountain, Bourbon, Kilimanjaro, Luwiro, and other heirloom cultivars unique to Tanzania.

     In 2018, four local farmer groups joined together to share a centralized processing facility. Farmers deliver freshly harvested coffee cherries, which are carefully sorted and and then processed. They are graded by quality and the highest-scoring beans are reserved as microlot selections, representing the finest harvests of the season.

     These exceptional lots are typically depulped the same day they are picked and fermented in cement tanks for 24 to 72 hours. After fermentation, the beans are thoroughly washed and dried either on raised drying beds or in mechanical dryers. The result is a meticulously processed coffee that highlights the vibrant character and exceptional quality for which Tanzanian coffees are increasingly celebrated.

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