We taste: pear, lychee, cola

Co-op/Farmers: Smallholder members of the Namku group (AMCOS)
Region: Mbinga (Mbamba Bay District)
Processing Method: Washed
Elevation: 1,600 msl
Varieties: Kent, Compact

AMCOS (Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society) was formalized in 2018 and now has 330 members who grow coffee above 1600 meters in the Mbinga region of the Mbamba Bay District in Tanzania. The coffee farms of Mbinga are situated in the highlands of west Tanzania above Lake Malawi, which is known by locals in Tanzania as Nyasa, meaning “lake.” The local Namku group, part of the larger and older AMCOS, organized in 2020 and produces washed Kent and Compact varieties.

During harvest, workers begin picking coffee cherries early in the morning because the cherries must be delivered to the wet mill in the afternoon, as the depulper begins its work at 3pm. The coffee is depulped (the outer cherry layers are removed) and graded into different channels according to size and density throughout the washing process.

Once the outer skin and pulp of the cherry are removed, the remaining seed is still covered in a thick protective layer called “parchment”. The coffee is fermented in its parchment for 24–36 hours, then washed clean before being soaked for 8–12 hours. Then the coffee is moved to drying tables for 7–14 days. The parchment layer is finally removed at the dry mill before the coffee is transported for export.

When brewed, this coffee is tropical and herbaceous, but still sweet and approachable. It’s delicious served black, but it also plays well with milk.