Summary

Pleasant both as espresso and filter, this Tanzania is sweet and balanced. With a remarkable body, it shows nice notes of citrus fruits, berries, vanilla, and jam.

The Finer Details

The Origin

This microlot comes from the Songwe region, in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, near the border with the neighboring countries Zambia and Malawi.

This newly established administrative district was created in January 2016 and occupies the western half of the previously larger Mbeya region, characterized by narrow valleys surrounded by high mountains.

The Producer

More specifically, the microlot comes from the Sambewe Farmers Group, an Agriculture Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) formed by 54 smallholders from the homonymous village of Sambewe, in the Mbozi district.

AMCOS are the most common co-ops in Tanzania: they coordinate the processing, transportation, and marketing of members' coffee by providing a centralized wet mill, called the Central Processing Unit (CPU).

The Process

The harvest period in southern Tanzania goes from the end of May to July, while the coffee trees bloom between September and October.

The microlot, isolated by day of processing, consists of cherries from 20 small farmers.

The farmers picked their cherries by hand at an altitude of about 1800mslm and delivered them to the Sambewe CPU. They have manually selected cherries to ensure that only perfectly ripe cherries are processed. The unripe or overripe fruits are typically brought back home by the farmers, to be processed and sold locally or consumed by the farmers themselves.

The first processing step consists in removing skin and mucilage from the cherry. The parchment (the bean covered by a silver skin and the characteristic white shell) is then fermented in tanks and then washed in water channels, where the beans are further classified by density.

The beans are finally dried on raised beds for 7-10 days. During the drying phase, the beans are once more examined to remove any residual defects. They are continuously turned and covered with clothes during the central hours of the day.

Once the parchment has been mechanically removed from the beans, these are packed in small 30 kg Grainpro sacks, which are in turn inserted into compact and friendly jute bags, and as such have been sent to the Nero Scuro roastery.

In the Cup

We have crafted two roast profiles for this Tanzania: for filter and espresso extractions. We, in fact, consider this coffee excellent for both.

The Sambewe is very delicate, well balanced and sweet, with an impressive texture, especially in espresso. The notes are those of citrus fruits, berries, vanilla, plum, and jam. Thin hints of chocolate are also recognizable when extracted as espresso.