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Tanzania Coffee Flavor with excellent taste introduction to boutique coffee in manor producing area

Published: 2025-08-21 Author: World Gafei
Last Updated: 2025/08/21, The topography of Tanzania is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, showing a ladder shape. The eastern coast is a lowland, the western inland plateau accounts for more than half of the total inland area, and the East African Rift Valley runs from east to west from Lake Malawi to the north and south. The Kibo peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in the northeast is 5895 meters above sea level, which is the highest peak in Africa. [6] Climate in the eastern coastal areas of Tanzania and part of the lowland heat in the interior

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When it comes to coffee-producing regions in Africa, what countries do you think of? Is Ethiopia the earliest birthplace of coffee? Is Kenya famous for its sour coffee? Or Rwanda, which is famous for the floral and fruity aromas of coffee? The author does not intend to introduce the above well-known coffee producing areas in this article, but would like to use this article to introduce the first-class spring of African coffee: Tanzania.

Mount Kilimanjaro and Kilimanjaro Coffee

Tanzania is a typical East African country, bordering Kenya and Uganda to the north, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia to the south, and Rwanda and Burundi to the west. When it comes to Tanzanian coffee, we must mention the coffee produced in Mount Kilimanjaro. Located in northeastern Tanzania, it is the highest mountain in Africa. As early as 1893, missionaries introduced bourbon coffee for planting. Extreme and unique climatic conditions are the treasure of growing coffee. Today, the coffee produced in Mount Kilimanjaro is definitely the best representative of Tanzania and accounts for 75% of the coffee production in Tanzania.

You may ask, what are the advantages or special conditions for the growth of Kilimanjaro coffee? This is because Mount Kilimanjaro is not only the highest mountain in Africa, but also a mountain formed after a volcanic eruption, making it the second largest crater in the world. Anyone who has read the Coffee Workshop official account article or has done a lot of research on coffee should know that the soil of volcanic ash is an excellent nourishment for coffee beans. On the other hand, the volcanic soil of the Kilimanjaro mountain is fertile, weakly acidic and well drained, and the combination of climate and geology makes the coffee flavor rich.

In addition, Africa always gives the impression that the temperature is hot and the humidity is dry all the year round. This is really a big misunderstanding. Take Mount Kilimanjaro as an example. Although the temperature in the mountain can be as high as 59 degrees Celsius, the peak can be covered with snow all the year round, up to minus 34 degrees Celsius, so Mount Kilimanjaro is also known as the "equatorial snow peak." In terms of rainfall, the annual precipitation in the river valley can reach 800mm to 900mm; the mountains are cool and rainy, with an annual rainfall of 1600 to 1800 mm on the windward slope. Growing in the climatic and geographical environment provided by this "equatorial snow peak", one or two can guess how the flavor of coffee is particularly.

Round bean (Peaberry) vs flat bean (Flat beans)

Tanzania's round beans are definitely the icing on the cake for coffee produced in Tanzania. People may ask: what is a round bean? What are flat beans? Isn't a coffee bean just a bean? Is there a difference between roundness and evenness? Here, it may be necessary to add some information in this respect.

First of all, the real body of coffee beans is the drupe of coffee cherries, which is a kind of seed and plant. Under normal circumstances, in a coffee berry, there will be half-divided flat bean coffee seeds. This is what we call coffee beans, the scientific name is flat beans (Flat beans).

Flat bean (Flat beans)

Round bean (Peaberry)

The round bean (Peaberries) is actually a variety of coffee beans. The scientific name, also known as "caracol", "caracolillo", belongs to Spanish, which means little snail. Botanically, there are two possible reasons for the emergence of round beans: 1. Uneven pollination, 2. Nutrition is uneven in the process of growth. Rather than split into two seeds in half, the seed inside the plant does not split, so it presents a complete oval grain of an round bean. Is this common? Generally speaking, the yield of round beans is about 50% of that of flat beans. Round beans are also found in other coffee-producing countries in Africa, such as Kenya. But in the case of Tanzania, only about 5% to 10% of the fruits in local coffee production are in the shape of round beans. And the size of round beans is less than flat beans, in the process of treatment will also be screened by the net, separated from flat beans will be singled out for sale. Compared with flat beans, round beans are very rare and precious.

In terms of taste, the flavor of round beans is better, or that of flat beans is better? As a matter of fact, there is no conclusion on this, and many people are still discussing this issue. It is true that the emergence of round beans is a defect in the growth of coffee cherries, but some people think that it is reasonable that all nutrients are stored in smaller round beans, which concentrate more nutrients than ordinary flat beans, and have a more prominent flavor, sweeter and richer flavor.

The flavor of Tanzanian coffee: northern Kilimanjaro round beans

In fact, compared with other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, it seems that there is little choice of Tanzanian coffee in the boutique coffee market in Hong Kong. With regard to African coffee, people may have had one or two cups of Kenya or Ethiopia, but the coffee friends around them do not know much about Tanzanian coffee and are even surprised that she produces coffee. If the flower smell of Ethiopian coffee is amazing, and Kenyan coffee is famous for its acidity, how to describe Tanzanian coffee?

In terms of the Kilimanjaro round beans that the former street coffee recently brought, it is true that compared with Kenyan or Ethiopian coffee beans, the sour flavor of this coffee is neither as bright as in Kenya, nor as obvious as the smell of flowers. However, her soft and gentle acidity is as sweet and elegant as red wine. If it is roasted in a medium and light degree, its refreshing and smooth acid, orange fruit aroma, and sweet mixed with guava and sucrose, the flavor will change slightly with the change of temperature, so it is a kind of coffee with great character. If baked deeply, there will be an extra round layer: the sweetness of figs, the sweet and steady taste of caramel, and the high cleanliness will enhance the overall flavor of the coffee.

Have you ever tasted coffee from Tanzania? If the answer is no, why not start with this new coffee? It's time to discover the beauty of Tanzanian coffee. :)

The topography of Tanzania is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, showing a ladder shape. The eastern coast is a lowland, the western inland plateau accounts for more than half of the total inland area, and the East African Rift Valley runs from east to west from Lake Malawi to the north and south. The Kibo peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in the northeast is 5895 meters above sea level, which is the highest peak in Africa. [6]

Climate

The eastern coastal areas and inland lowlands of Tanzania have a savanna climate, while the western inland plateau has a tropical mountain climate, with an average temperature of 21-25 ℃ in most areas. More than 20 islands in Zanzibar have a tropical maritime climate, hot and humid all the year round, with an annual average temperature of 26 ℃. [6]

The types of rainfall can be divided into bimodal distribution and unimodal distribution. The areas with double bee rainfall include the provinces around the Lake Victoria basin, the northeast highlands, the coastal and inland northeastern. The bimodal rainfall area is characterized by two rainy seasons. The short rainy season occurs from September to December. The total rainfall can reach 200-500 mm. The long rainy season occurs from March to May, and the rainfall reaches 300-600 mm. The areas outside the double bee distribution rainfall area belong to the single bee distribution rainfall area, the rainfall time is from November to April, and the rainfall reaches 500-1000 mm.

Hydrology

The main rivers in Tanzania are the Rufidi River (1400 km long), the Pangani River, the Rufu River, the Wami River and so on. There are many lakes, including Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi. [7]

Tanzania is rich in mineral resources. By 2014, the major minerals identified include gold, diamond, iron, nickel, phosphate, coal and various gemstones, ranking fifth in Africa in total. Tanzania also has huge natural gas reserves. According to official data released by Tanzania, Tanzania has proven natural gas reserves of 44 trillion cubic feet, and the total reserves are expected to reach at least 200 trillion cubic feet.

The coffee beans produced here are all exported from Kilimanjaro, but apart from Mount Kilimanjaro, there are several major coffee-producing areas throughout Tanzania, there are more small farms in other areas, and most small farms also have a planting area of several hundred mu. Some have their own washing equipment and drying farms, but graded treatment still has to go through large-scale treatment plants. Tanzania has considerable historical experience in growing coffee. Even small farms can handle coffee beans of good quality. Drinking Tanzanian coffee, especially round bean peaberry, is always impressive. Coffee is like the simple, frank and enthusiastic national character of Tanzania. Its refreshing acidity and medium mellowness complement sweet citrus and floral aromas. This coffee tastes great whether it's a hot drink or iced coffee. With oranges or berries, it can show its bright flavor. You can see that different ethnic groups produce different flavors of coffee, and the same land breeds coffee trees and people at the same time, so in taking care of farms, pruning and maintenance of coffee plantations, many rely on manual processing rather than machines. During the coffee growing season, the job of coffee workers is to manually check to remove the leaves of some sick or growing insects. Coffee processing in Tanzania is highly dependent on labor, but it also brings jobs to locals and increases household income. Workers earn their wages by collecting the number of coffee fruits. Women on small farms use their hand-made sacks to bring coffee fruits to the farm to calculate capital. Coffee is one of the main cash crops in Tanzania, ranking fourth among Tanzania's export crops, after cotton, tobacco and cashew nuts, mainly sold to Italy, Japan and the United States. Coffee exports play an important role in the Tanzanian national economy. Tanzania's main coffee producing area, located at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, is rich in volcanic soil. Some coffee trees planted here are more than 100 years old. Coffee was first introduced and planted by Christians from Kenya. Coffee trees must be taken care of, weeded, fertilized, and old branches must be cut off so that new branches can grow to maintain the quality of coffee beans.

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