A beautifully smooth cup from the Kilimanjaro region
With the U.S. celebrating its 250th anniversary this past weekend, it’s worth noting that coffee has been the hot beverage of choice among Americans since colonial times. While England was devoted to daily tea drinking, Americans enjoyed distinguishing themselves by switching to coffee!
The Tanzania Mwika Peaberry has a wonderfully complex, lively, and lovely flavor. The Coffee Company crew suggest it has notes of apricot and dark chocolate.
Coffee came to what is now known as Tanzania many centuries ago, from Ethiopia to the north. As a modern crop, though, coffee production really dates to around World War I. Up until recently, the coffee quality from Tanzania has generally not been exceptional, but that has shifted in recent years, evidenced by the excellence of this new roast.
This single-origin, organic peaberry coffee from our partners at Crop to Cup is full-bodied and crisp, with fruit flavors that include peach as well as apricot. It comes to us from Mwika North, a cooperative established in 1984 (just two years after we opened the Deli!) that became one of the first organic-certified producer groups in the Kilimanjaro region. The producers still take pride in farming organically. Peaberry, for those who don’t know it, is a genetic mutation in which the coffee bean has no “split seam” in the middle. Because it’s hard to find, people in the industry tend to pay close attention to how it’s grown and processed, leading to higher quality.
The Mwika North co-op is made up of about 180 farmers who work on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, not too far from Tanzania’s northeast border with Kenya. The mountain microclimate of the region is pretty much perfect for coffee growing. The roasting is meant to accent the music, not interrupt its natural flow, and the results are terrific!
