Trip to Coffee Origin - How is Tanzanian Coffee?
Our barista Mihkel spent a month in Tanzania, where he volunteered at a coffee farming for two weeks. What did he learn about coffee faring during his trip?
The coffee farm
The coffee farm where I spent two weeks is located near Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and near to the town of Moshi. Agriculture is one of the main sources of livelihood in rural areas and coffee farms. The area and farm I was in were mainly engaged in coffee growing, banana growing and, to a lesser extent, avocados and maize. Children still go to school, but when it's time to harvest, they help their parents.
The coffee farmer Denis
Dennis, a coffee grower with whom I lived and studied for two weeks, is 76 years old and has been involved in coffee on a daily basis for 40 years. Dennis' coffee farm is a fairly traditional small farm in Tanzania - a total of 3 hectares and 200 coffee trees.
The coffee tree
Harvesting time in Northern Tanzania is usually from July to December. The coffee tree produces white flowers which fall off after a couple of days and in their place a cherry appears. Most of the coffee trees were still in bloom during my stay. During my volunteer period, the coffee cherries were still raw and green so the coffee crop had not yet been started and my activities were related to caring for the coffee trees. For example, it is important to prune the coffee trees to remove excess leaves that "rob" the nutritional value of the plant and cherries.
The coffee varieties
New varieties were also bred on the same farm. The most exciting was the variety created by the students from a university - the yield of variety was insane compared to the traditional varieties. The branches of the tree were heavy and bumpy. However, as the local Q-grader Dennis mentioned, the variety still needs to be bred and developed because the cherries are small and therefore less rich in flavour than for example Batian or SL28.