Which Country Has the Best Coffee Beans? African Coffee Bean Stories and Flavor Characteristics

When it comes to Africa, FrontStreet Coffee is confident that experienced drinkers already know coffee was born there, in Ethiopia. Since the continent is the birthplace of the crop, its quality and flavour should be the most original of all. On flavour, FrontStreet Coffee thinks first of a distinctive floral and fruity character. FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian coffee carries a strong citrus aroma, while its Kenyan coffee brings rich berry notes along with the tart fragrance of plum juice and grapefruit and the sweet scent of sugarcane. The citrus of Ethiopia and the berry of Kenya are the great hallmarks of African beans, and the very things that hold drinkers captive. FrontStreet Coffee holds that African coffee is generally rich in aroma and captivating in fruit acidity, bright and refreshing enough to wake up the senses. It often shows a slightly thin body and less prominent sweetness, though, because the continent has long suffered from drought and scarce water, so most beans are natural processed, which tends to leave the shapes uneven and the defect rate higher. Below, FrontStreet Coffee introduces the main coffee-producing countries and regions of the African continent. 1. Ethiopia Coffee has been woven into Ethiopia's social fabric and cultural economy for hundreds of years. In Ethiopia it is a cultural core and an important income source for most people. The country is recognised worldwide as the birthplace of coffee and is highly esteemed in the specialty market. Coffee shop menus almost everywhere feature Ethiopian coffee, and FrontStreet Coffee is no exception. Why is it so highly praised? FrontStreet Coffee believes the differences between Ethiopian producing regions are considerable, yet whatever the region, as long as it is Ethiopian Arabica, many people find it irresistible. Let FrontStreet Coffee take you through this birthplace of coffee. Coffee cultivation in Ethiopia is concentrated in the southwest, with smallholder families accounting for 90% of the total. Nearly 1.2 million smallholder families depend on coffee for their livelihood, each cultivating less than 4 hectares. The average growing altitude is 1000-2300 metres, with a planting density of 1000-1800 coffee trees per hectare and a yield of nearly 600kg of coffee beans. Ethiopia's main producing regions include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Kaffa Forest, Lekempti, Kembata, Illubabor, Harrar, and Limu. Yirgacheffe is a small town and one of the world's highest altitude coffee regions, at 1700-2100 metres. It is shrouded in fog year round, with spring-like seasons, gentle breezes, and cool, humid weather. During harvest, Ethiopian trading companies come to town to buy the beans farmers have gathered, which are eventually auctioned and exported under the Yirgacheffe brand. To pursue high quality fruit, the Red Cherry Project was introduced, picking 100% fully red cherries entirely by hand and letting farmers concentrate on screening and bean selection. These coffees also fetch relatively higher prices. Ethiopia has several cultivation models. According to FrontStreet Coffee, they are: Forest coffee at 8-10%, where coffee trees coexist with other crops in pristine forest without any artificial management, and farmers come regularly to pick the fruit. Semi-forest coffee at 30-35%, where coffee trees are planted between the forest and the surroundings of farmers' homes. The trees are the same natural varieties as forest coffee, and farmers manage the planting areas while growing other cash crops. Garden coffee at 50-55%, where coffee trees are planted around farmers' homes and mostly tended by the farmers themselves. Plantation coffee at 5-6%, made up of large private growers with more processing facilities and production capacity. Among the many beans FrontStreet Coffee offers, plenty from Ethiopian producing regions are labelled Heirloom, which some translate as heirloom treasures. In Ethiopia, the garden system is the survival model for the vast majority of small coffee farmers, and Heirloom varieties come from the unnamed varieties in their backyards. Coffee trees may have been left by the first owner of the land, shared among neighbours, or grown from seed brought from another origin. Various coffee plants are intercropped with other cash crops and picked and sold when ripe. Heirloom therefore does not refer to a specific variety. It represents a blend of green beans from the origin, combining the harvests of many small farmers over the same period. A single batch may hold dozens or even hundreds of undifferentiated varieties. It is precisely this variation, plus the different blending each time, that leaves the beans varied in size, dimension, and shape, some large, some small, some long, some round, best understood as blended batches. Ethiopia's main processing methods are natural and washed. In recent years, small batches of honey and anaerobic processing have gradually appeared. Below, FrontStreet Coffee explains how the different methods affect flavour. Natural: the most traditional method. The Harrar region is particularly dry and lacks the water for washing, so all of its output is natural. Other regions such as Sidama, Yirgacheffe, Guji, and Jimma also produce natural coffee. Flavor: ripe fruit aroma, similar to apricot, peach, cherry, strawberry, dried cranberry, dried blueberry, and plum, with varying degrees of wine-like aroma, close to rum, whiskey, and even red wine. Washed: compared with natural, washing needs stable water resources and makes higher demands on the mill's environment and equipment, but it can reliably produce high-quality coffee in large quantities. All regions except Harrar use washing. Flavor: citrus fruits, similar to lemon, tangerine, orange, grapefruit, and sweet pomelo. Intensity ranges from a more obvious citrus peel aroma to fruit acidity of varying strength, from gentle small tangerines to medium-strength oranges to the more refreshing acidity of lemon and grapefruit. Honey: in recent years, items marked Kochere honey processed have gradually appeared. This is a green bean method between natural and washed, with an aroma and taste that are rounded and clear. Flavor: obvious floral aroma, a delicate mouthfeel, and a long-lasting juice-like quality. Red pomelo, citrus, sugarcane, and honey, clean and gentle. Below are the Ethiopian coffees and regional characteristics currently available at FrontStreet Coffee. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Honey Red Cherry Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 2000-2200m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Red Honey Processing Flavor: Jasmine, citrus, honey, berries, almond, fermented red wine Honey processing means drying the green bean with the mucilage intact. Once the outer pulp is removed, a viscous, gelatinous layer remains. Traditional washed processing rinses it away with clean water, but because water is limited in some high-altitude regions, this direct drying method came about. That pectin mucilage is the part of the coffee fruit with the highest sugar content and a key element in fermentation. It can be said to determine 80% of the nutritional supply during processing. Yellow honey retains 60% of the pectin, red honey retains 75%, and black honey keeps almost all of it. FrontStreet Coffee finds that red honey processed beans carry a ripe fruit aroma with a faint red wine fermentation note. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 2300m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Berries, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine aroma The natural method is the oldest and most primitive way to process coffee beans. This FrontStreet Coffee natural red cherry is made by laying whole cherries, pulp and skin intact, on raised beds to sun-dry, isolated from the ground to keep earthy impurities out. After more than two weeks of sun-drying, the deep brown fruit is stored for flavour maturation, and the mill removes the beans from the cherries before shipment. The natural method yields lower acidity, obvious sweetness, and more body, though it is less clean than washed processing. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Gedeb Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 1900-2300m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Tropical fruits, cream, honey, berries, citrus The name Gedeb comes from the Gedeb Cooperative that produces these cherries. According to FrontStreet Coffee, the cooperative began as part of the Yirgacheffe Union YCFCU's Woka Cooperative and became independent as the Gedeb Cooperative in 2012, now counting about 300 small farmer members. Gedeb village was one of the first village areas to separate out, and many small farmers were also members of the original Woka Cooperative, so their production skill is beyond question. The Gedeb Cooperative is known as the last pure land of Yirgacheffe, and it uses very traditional green bean methods, natural and washed. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Kochere Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 2000m Variety: Kochere Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Jasmine floral, lemon, bergamot, honey, black tea Kochere lies 25 kilometres southeast of Yirgacheffe and is a small producing region that grew prosperous through coffee. It is also one of the three famous micro-regions of Yirgacheffe. The local population is around 100,000, with coffee as the main source of income. Living standards are much better than in many Ethiopian villages, with complete health facilities and higher education institutions. These advanced processing facilities let Kochere coffee perform consistently well in washed processing, with a clean sweetness featuring complex molasses and citrus notes. According to FrontStreet Coffee, the coffee review website Coffee Review gave Kochere washed beans a high rating of 94 points. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Woka Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 1650-1800m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Lemon, jasmine tea, black tea, sucrose Woka lies in the Yirgacheffe region, at an altitude of 1800-2000 metres. The Woka Cooperative was founded in 2005 and joined the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU) the same year, known for producing high-quality natural Yirgacheffe. This FrontStreet Coffee washed Woka comes from that source. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Natural Aricha Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 1900-2100m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Light fermented wine aroma, sweet orange, spices, honey sweetness FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Aricha is produced at the Kebel Aricha mill, with about 650-700 small coffee farmers nearby. Farmers bring ripe cherries here in exchange for cash. After the mill screens the fruit, it is laid directly on racks in the sun. For the first few days it is turned every 2-3 hours to prevent over-fermentation. After four to six weeks of sun-drying, workers remove the outer pulp by machine depending on weather and temperature, then transport it to Addis for storage. Naturally processed beans are usually stored as parchment until hulling before export to protect green bean quality. This batch of FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Aricha was rated G1, the highest grade by ECX. From green bean appearance, consistency, and freshness to dry aroma and flavour, it is excellent. Coffee lovers who enjoy bright acidity and rich berry flavour should not miss it. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Sidamo Buku Country: Ethiopia Region: Sidamo Altitude: 2250-2350m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Berries, floral tea, honey, lemon, black tea Buku takes its name from an event in 2017, when Ethiopia's DW green bean company sent its coffee to the TOH (Taste Of Harvest) competition hosted by the African Coffee Association, and its natural batch won the TOH Ethiopia championship. That champion batch was named Buku. Buku is located in Hambella, which sits in Guji, Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing region, administratively part of Oromia. To the west of Hambella, Yirgacheffe's Kochere is visible across the mountains. To the southeast and north it borders Guji's Shakiso, Uraga, and Kercha sub-regions. It is Ethiopia's highest altitude coffee sub-region, while Harrar is Ethiopia's highest altitude main producing region. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia 90+ Shembawo Country: Ethiopia Region: Ethiopia Altitude: 1750-2000m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Nectarine, tropical fruits, cream, mango, citrus The story of Ninety Plus Shembawo: Drima Zede, which is FrontStreet Coffee's Shembawo and the name of this Yirgacheffe, means Best Approach in the local language. According to the producer, this FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe is a specialty series developed from 90+ experience. The ancient natural method makes pure flavours hard to obtain, but with 90+ technical support, Drima Zede picks only the ripest cherries and stirs them frequently during natural drying to ensure uniformity. The result is a transparent, pure taste with a big shift from hot to cold, carrying charming fruit, floral, and oak barrel aromas. 90+ refers to a top-tier coffee series of 13 flavour profiles. It represents the pursuit of ultimate flavour, which is admirable. This FrontStreet Coffee 90+ Shembawo shows nectarine, mango, and cream. FrontStreet Coffee believes anyone who loves mango will fall for it. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Cup of Excellence 22 Country: Ethiopia Region: Sidamo Altitude: 2200m Variety: Typica Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Citrus, honey, lychee, cream, fermented wine aroma, mango, strawberry In the first Ethiopia Cup of Excellence, FrontStreet Coffee won the bid for the 22nd place coffee. The bean comes from a 60-year-old father, Adem Baneta Sulte, who has 28 children, 12 of them girls. When he heard his result in the competition he was overjoyed. His coffee scored 87.64 points, ranking 22nd. Adem said he produced 4500 kg of coffee on his 6 hectares and sold it to local merchants. He explained: "I have never had access to the export market because I did not have the opportunity, and this competition might introduce me to the global market. This brings great hope to me and my family." FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 1600-2500m Variety: Local Heirloom Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Jasmine, orange, berries, lemon, caramel Yirgacheffe is a small town whose unique climate created specialty coffee as the world knows it. Beans produced locally are named after the town, which has also become a byword for specialty coffee. Coffee from the same Yirgacheffe region tastes different depending on whether it is natural or washed. Under the same processing, FrontStreet Coffee's natural Yirgacheffe has an obvious red wine dry aroma, while its washed Yirgacheffe carries citrus and honeyed fruit notes. Both show obvious fruit acidity, similar to lemon and citrus, but natural beans are fuller in body. FrontStreet Coffee holds that washed processing gives brighter acidity, like citric acid, with a fresher taste and more obvious citrus aroma, while natural processing is fuller, with slightly stronger bitterness and a far richer taste. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Geisha Village Gold Label Country: Ethiopia Region: Bench Maji Altitude: 1909-2069m Variety: Geisha Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Citrus, lemon, tropical fruits, cream, nuts, tea-like According to FrontStreet Coffee, Geisha Village Estate is completely different from most Ethiopian farms. It is not a small holding but a large 500-hectare farm with its own washing station and laboratory, located in the southwest near the Sudan border. Its most unusual feature is that the entire farm grows only Geisha, rather than the generally indeterminate Ethiopian heirloom varieties. Geisha Village divides the farm into 8 zones with 3 main Geisha varieties. All Geisha seed is collected from nearby forests, not from Panama. The western part of Geisha Village Estate is relatively higher, with the SHEWA-JIBABU zone slightly higher still, while the south has a higher shade ratio and the north gets longer sun. Among the eight zones, the estate manager matches the most suitable variety to each zone based on microclimate differences such as altitude, soil, and shade, so each major zone forms distinct characteristics. Geisha Village grades its coffee as Auction, Gold Label, Red Label, Green Label, and CHAKA. This FrontStreet Coffee Geisha Village bean is Gold Label. FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Label batches account for only 5% of Geisha Village's annual production. They are typically the batches chosen by competition participants worldwide and bought by roasters with high quality demands. They have complete traceability, with prominent and complex flavours in each batch, making them the estate's second-best grade after auction lots. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Geisha Village Red Label Country: Ethiopia Region: Bench Maji Altitude: 1909-2069m Variety: Geisha Processing: Natural Processing Flavor: Tropical fruits, cream, bergamot, fermented wine aroma, lemon, nuts Compared with the Gold Label Geisha Village above, FrontStreet Coffee's Red Label batches have complete traceability and typical Geisha Village flavour, with slightly less intensity and complexity than Gold Label, making them single-origin lots with excellent value. FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Geisha Village Chaka Country: Ethiopia Region: Bench Maji Altitude: 1909-2069m Variety: Geisha Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Strawberry, citrus, floral, tropical fruits According to FrontStreet Coffee, Geisha Village Chaka batches mix coffee from all the estate's zones and the whole production season. FrontStreet Coffee's Geisha Village Chaka contains three varieties from the estate: Geisha 1931, Gorie Geisha, and Illubabor. By FrontStreet Coffee's cupping, it has a faint fermented aroma, with citrus and grapefruit acidity, accompanied by cream, chocolate, and caramel. The taste is gentle, and drinkers who enjoy it may want to give it a try. Below are all the Burundi coffees currently available at FrontStreet Coffee. 2. Burundi Burundi is a beautiful landlocked country on the steep East African Rift Valley, with complex terrain. The ridge that rises suddenly on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika forms the watershed between Africa's two great river systems, the Nile and the Congo, earning it the title Heart of Africa. Burundi's coffee model resembles Ethiopia's, mostly produced by small farmers who bring their ripe cherries to processing stations for unified handling. The Rutana region, for example, is a cooperative of family-like small coffee farmers, 539 families in all, 148 of them headed by women. Each family grows an average of 10-200 coffee trees, while at least 1000 trees can be planted per hectare, which shows how meagre their annual income is and how typical these impoverished smallholder families are. Burundi coffee is mainly Bourbon, with some other variants such as Jackson and Blue Mountain. It is grown from 700-2700 metres. High altitude brings brighter acidity and lemon notes, with passion fruit, pineapple, floral, and honey flavours, and quality reaching SCA 86 points or above, while low-altitude coffee has a slightly thinner body with more chocolate and hazelnut. FrontStreet Coffee Burundi Heart of Africa Country: Burundi Region: Bubanza Altitude: 1400-1700m Variety: Bourbon Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Kumquat, lemon, dried fruit, caramel, light acidity According to FrontStreet Coffee, the name Heart of Africa comes from World Bank statistics for 2011 showing that roughly 600,000-800,000 families in Burundi depend on coffee for their livelihood, making it the core of the country. Burundi's Heart of Africa arrived through Belgium. Burundi began growing coffee in 1930, mostly Bourbon series varieties like neighbouring Rwanda. The coffee grows in high mountains at 1750 to 2000 metres. 3. Kenya Kenyan coffee mostly grows at 1500-2100 metres, with two harvests a year. Its main characteristic is distinct fruit aroma, citrus being the common note. Kenyan coffee has multi-layered flavour and juice-like acidity, with perfect grapefruit and wine notes and moderate body, a favourite single origin among industry professionals. It gained further fame through the Hollywood film Out of Africa. According to FrontStreet Coffee, cutting down or destroying coffee trees is illegal in Kenya. Kenyan coffee buyers are all world-class specialty buyers. FrontStreet Coffee notes that no other country plants, produces, and sells coffee quite like Kenya. All Kenyan beans are first acquired by the Coffee Board of Kenya (CBK), where they are graded and then sold at weekly auctions without further grading during auction. The Coffee Board of Kenya acts only as an agent, collecting samples and distributing them to buyers to help them judge price and quality. Nairobi auctions are held for private exporters, with the CBK paying growers prices below market value. The best grade is Peaberry (PB), followed by AA++, AA+, AA, AB, and so on, in descending order. Generally, premium coffee is glossy, delicious, and slightly wine-flavoured. Auctions are also organised to meet blenders' needs. They usually involve smaller quantities, 3-6 tons per lot, with samples marked by grower identification for buyer tasting. After auction, exporters package according to the flavours, qualities, and quantities blenders require, which gives blenders great flexibility. Quality-conscious Germans and Northern Europeans are long-term buyers of Kenyan coffee. According to FrontStreet Coffee, Kenya has two types of coffee farm. One is large plantations of more than five acres, generally at lower altitudes. For Kenyan coffee, beans from large farms are only medium quality. Premium Kenyan beans come from small farms, mostly on foothills or volcanic slopes at five to six thousand feet. Each small farm's seasonal output is only about twenty to seventy bags, and they cannot afford costly washing plants. Small farmers are very united, forming cooperative farms of hundreds or thousands of households. The government funds washing plants, and small farmers send their picked cherries to the cooperative for unified processing. First underripe or rotten fruit is removed, then skin removal, fermentation, and pulp decomposition extract the beans, followed by drying and polishing. The whole process is supervised by official coffee authorities and is quite rigorous, which safeguards quality. Kenya's washed processing and high-standard quality control have long been exemplary among coffee-producing countries. FrontStreet Coffee's Kenyan coffee has its characteristic bitterness and wine taste, which draws the most praise. It also grows high-quality Arabica. The beans are medium to large, very rich and flavourful, with moderate acidity. In most producing regions there is a tomato aroma, the greatest hallmark of Kenyan coffee. Below are all the Kenyan coffees currently available at FrontStreet Coffee. FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Thathini Country: Kenya Region: Thathini Altitude: 1900m Variety: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11 Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Tomato, fruits, berries Thathini Estate lies in the KIAMBU region around Mount Kenya, at an altitude of about 1800 metres. The area has beautiful scenery, a pleasant climate, abundant sunlight, and superior soil, a fertile acidic red soil with loose texture, deep layers, and good drainage, with pH values between 5.5-6.5. Thathini Limited was first established in 1952 and was among the first coffee and tea companies set up after Kenya's independence. It holds multiple certifications including UTZ, Rainforest Alliance, and the Kenya Bureau of Standards Diamond mark. FrontStreet Coffee believes that high-quality Kenyan coffee has bright fruit acidity and an intoxicating fruity sweetness. The sweet-sour contrast is significant, with a refreshing sweet aftertaste and hints of blackcurrant in the finish. FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Asalia Country: Kenya Region: Asalia (Honey Processing Station) Altitude: 1550-1750m Variety: SL28, SL34 Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Pear, plum, brown sugar, cherry tomato, plum According to FrontStreet Coffee, SL-28 and SL-34 are two of 40 experimental varieties from a research programme led by Guy Gibson at Scott Laboratories. The Bourbon variants SL-28 and SL-34 have always been consistent winners at expert cuppings and Nairobi auctions. 4. Rwanda Rwanda lies in central Africa and is a standard landlocked country, with every neighbour a major coffee producer. In the early 20th century, Rwanda became in turn a colony of Germany and Belgium, and coffee was first introduced by German missionaries. During the colonial period production rose sharply, but labour exploitation, suppressed crop prices, and high export taxes left bean quality far from ideal, a common pattern in commercial coffee at the time. FrontStreet Coffee notes that Brazil, also once under colonial rule, produced coffee that favoured quantity over quality, and for a period carried a reputation for poor coffee. After independence and the founding of its first official coffee organisation, OCIR, Rwanda gradually began to value bean production. Output grew steadily from the 1960s to the 1980s, peaking in 1986, until domestic instability in the early 1990s, the Rwandan genocide, halted the industry. FrontStreet Coffee has recently bought several batches of Rwandan coffee from different regions, partly because the industry is developing fast and quality is assured, and partly because Rwanda is gradually forming regional flavours distinct from Ethiopia and Kenya. In the early 20th century Rwanda was a German colony, with coffee first introduced by German missionaries around 1904. Production rose significantly around 1930. Rwanda was once the 9th largest Arabica coffee exporter in Africa, with nearly 450,000 small farmers, each farm averaging less than 1 hectare, about 165 coffee trees per farmer, and a total planted area of about 28,000 hectares. Coffee areas are mainly in the western half of the country and the central region near the capital, Kigali. In 2000, having just emerged from internal turmoil, Rwanda received USAID funding for two major coffee programmes, PEARL and SPREAD, aimed at supporting reconstruction. After they were implemented, Rwanda built 46 coffee washing stations in succession, and the country's economy grew significantly through strong coffee exports. Rwandan beans therefore mainly use the washed method. Ripe cherries are hand-picked, pulp and skin removed, followed by 12-18 hours of washed fermentation, cleaning of the pectin, and drying to below 14% moisture. FrontStreet Coffee believes that choosing washed as the main method as the industry developed was a clear way to highlight flavour, because washing best represents the essential flavour of coffee. When FrontStreet Coffee recommends a producing region, it also suggests washed beans first, so drinkers can clearly understand the region's character. At the 2008 top coffee annual evaluation held by the American Specialty Coffee Association (SCAA), Rwanda Aromec top washed Bourbon beans defeated Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 and Sumatra Mandheling G1 Special Grade, winning the 2008 COE Championship Award and establishing its reputation and price in the coffee world. FrontStreet Coffee Rwanda Gisheke Country: Rwanda Region: Nyamasheke Altitude: 1500m Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Citrus, berries, plum, nuts, honey, tea-like The Gisheke washing station is in the Nyamasheke region of western Rwanda. According to FrontStreet Coffee, Fidele Ndagijimana is a young trader in Nyamasheke who saw the potential of Rwandan specialty washed coffee and applied to the government to build this mill. In its first year it produced 170 tons of coffee cherries, because he used the off-season to improve and expand production equipment, so that when the next harvest arrived he could provide better machines and superior storage. In the end this able trader also secured more land near the mill for cultivation, and the Gisheke washing station became famous. 5. Tanzania Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, stands in northeastern Tanzania. After World War I the territory was a trust territory under British colonial rule until independence in 1964. Tanzanian coffee is unusual in that it combines three different plantations in the north. One lies in the Kilimanjaro range, Africa's highest peak and the largest free-standing foothill on Earth. Coffee grows between 1,150 and 1,500 metres. In 1898 Bourbon variety coffee was introduced to Tanzania's Kilimanjaro region by Catholic missionaries, and the Kent variety followed in 1920. Tanzania now grows both Kent and Bourbon. According to FrontStreet Coffee, Bourbon cherries are short and round with high density in pulp and seed, so Bourbon coffee usually has high sweetness and bright acidity. Its production is 20-30% higher than Typica, yet it is still considered low-yield because it is also susceptible to leaf rust. Tanzanian beans have a grading system the same as Kenya's, by bean size, including AA, AB, PB, and so on. FrontStreet Coffee Tanzania Kilimanjaro Country: Tanzania Region: Mount Kilimanjaro Altitude: 1300-2000m Variety: Bourbon Processing: Washed Processing Flavor: Citrus, berries, honey, tea-like According to FrontStreet Coffee, Tanzania Kilimanjaro Coffee is produced in the Mount Kilimanjaro region of northeastern Tanzania, Africa's highest mountain range. Its quality is excellent, with rich aroma and prominent acidity, suited to blending in a comprehensive coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's Tanzania Kilimanjaro Coffee is an important economic lifeline for Tanzania, with approximately 17% of foreign exchange created by coffee. Production is concentrated around Mount Kilimanjaro in northeastern Arusha, the Kilimanjaro volcano, Africa's highest peak with perennial snow. FrontStreet Coffee's Tanzania Kilimanjaro Coffee is one of the top representatives of Tanzania AA beans, nurtured by volcanic ash, a variety created by nature, with a unique cocoa fruit aroma in the coffee and a strong, mellow character.

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Africa's strength is variety within a single country, and FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian range shows it well. The Washed Yirgacheffe is the easiest starting point, with clear jasmine and bright citrus acidity, light-bodied and tea-like, like a clean lemon tea. The Gudingding Cooperative coffee, from the Woka area at the south-eastern edge of Yirgacheffe, was once part of the YCFCU-affiliated Woka Cooperative before becoming its own single-origin lot in 2012 with around 300 farmer members; its traditional washing brings out citrus and lemon with elegant white florals.

The Natural Red Cherry takes the opposite route, drying only fully ripe cherries in the sun for two weeks and removing the hardened fruit, mucilage, and parchment afterwards, which gives a clean, intensely fruity cup of peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon. The Huakui comes from Hambella in Guji, a 200-hectare farm using traditional natural processing, and pours with a light fermented note, florals, citrus, and mango over honey and cocoa. For something unusual, the Hamashoz is natural processed from Sidama and built on the JARC 74 series, with strawberry, starfruit, and green grape sweetness, while the Kaffa Forest grows wild in shade between 1400 and 2100 metres and is medium-light roasted for white florals, lemon acidity, sweet orange, and bergamot. Taken together they capture why Africa remains the most exciting continent for coffee.