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Coffees from northern Tanzania are on the water! Annually, harvests from here go underappreciated as they will land among a torrent of Kenya and Ethiopia imports. That said, coffees from Tanzania’s north demonstrate resinous blue fruits and spices – perhaps Tanzanian’s equivalent to the Sidamo’s from Ethiopia. Below is a harvest brief, and a bit of an overview of some active work. You’ll also see our current bookings and can reserve lots for June 2021 arrival.
| Peak Harvest | Shipment | Arrival |
| December | March | May – June |
Last year we tried something new–refrigerated shipping containers, aka reefers. We shipped the 2020 harvest in a reefer hoping it would help preserve the quality we tasted in the PSS. Sure enough, the arrival scored 86+, just like the PSS. However, as we monitored water activity we realized it actually increased from PSS to arrival. Of course going from room temperature in Dar es Salaam, to cold during transit, then back to room temperature in a US warehouse would affect the coffee. It makes sense, and it was worth the learnings we gathered. Ultimately, we decided to suspend the experiment until we can establish climate-controlled warehousing here in the States.
Experiments continue within N. Tanzania supply-chains from climate-controlled storage to floated quality naturals in the western-most coffee producing province of Tarime. A new warehouse in the port city of Dar es Salaam is likely to bring the most immediate benefits as coffees are required to sit in Dar while they clear export. This is one of the most humid port cities in Africa.
A new coffee is coming in this year from Ngila Estate located in the Ngorongoro Crater, a conservation area on the south side of the Serengeti. On the cupping table, this one stood out among other offers from the area. While we haven’t developed a relationship with this producer yet, we are excited to bring in this exceptionally tasty offer.
The biggest news on Kilimanjaro is the successful scaling of the Mwika North washing station. If you recall, last year this group put forth massive efforts to ‘turn on’ a Central Processing Unit or CPU, as they call it. They built structures, poured concrete for flotation channels and fermentation tanks, connected to electricity, and set protocols in place. A modest 15 bags came from the CPU last year. It was an impressive improvement from the home-processed coffees. As we enter our 7th year working with the Mwika North AMCOS we look forward to seeing the continued increase in CPU capacity. These coffees and our partnership with Mwika North only seem to be getting sweeter.
NGORONGORO NGILA ESTATE | 87 points | 36 bags at 4.87 landed (pre-booking offer)
Big chocolate, big lime-tropical acidity, papaya, ginger, and port wine
MWIKA NORTH HP | 85 points | 50 bags at 3.77 landed (pre-booking offer)
Dark Chocolate, melon, lime
Momentum matters. It was incredible to see the scaling and continued progress of the Mwika North Central Processing Unit. While it’s not a drastic volume increase, we see their dedication to quality and continuous improvements. We are already anxious for what they will accomplish in the off-season.
The amount of communication, problem-solving, trust and hustle that went into this year is what we will remember from the 2020 -2021 East Africa harvest. This is a credit to our partners and validation for all of us who have invested in building strong relationships for years.
Reach out to your trader or email us at offers@croptocup.com to secure these fresh lots that are due to arrive in June.