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Is Zambian Coffee Delicious? Zambian Coffee Bean Growing Regions Produce Fresh Fruit Flavors and Acidity

Published: 2026-01-28 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/28, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - Zambia Coffee Introduction. Coffee was introduced to Zambia in the 1950s when missionaries brought Bourbon coffee seeds from Tanzania and Kenya. However, coffee production had to wait until the late 1970s and early 1980s for funding from the World Bank,

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Zambian Coffee

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

Coffee was introduced to Zambia in the 1950s when missionaries brought Bourbon coffee seeds from Tanzania and Kenya. However, coffee production didn't begin to grow until the late 1970s and early 1980s with funding from the World Bank. The increase in pests and diseases led coffee farmers to start planting the hybrid variety Catimor, though this variety is not as flavorful as the Bourbon variety. But this was only a temporary change, as the government later recommended Bourbon again, although there are still considerable numbers of Catimor in Zambia.

The earliest Zambian cultivation was all Bourbon variety coffee. Due to economic constraints, there were no effective methods to eliminate pests, coupled with backward technology, Zambian coffee suffered greatly from borers and diseases in its early days, finally having to temporarily switch to the more disaster-resistant Catimor variety.

Although Catimor was very helpful against natural disasters and insect borers, for this country's growing environment, planting this variety could be considered a waste of natural resources. Eventually, Zambia abandoned Catimor and changed its main cultivated variety back to Bourbon.

As time progressed, Zambia applied the latest technologies and innovations in coffee cultivation, including chemical and biological pest control as well as coffee pulp composting. For example, in terms of cultivation, most countries practice shade-grown coffee, planting banana trees or other agricultural products at higher altitudes or beside coffee trees to provide shade for the coffee trees.

In Zambia, their coffee cultivation is not shade-grown but uses irrigation methods, fertilization, and chemical approaches to let coffee trees grow in sufficient sunlight to ensure normal growth. It is precisely such innovation and technological application that has made the quality of Zambian coffee rise steadily.

Zambia has built a commercial coffee platform for less than 50 years, making it a relatively latecomer in the coffee world, especially in the specialty coffee sector. But because of this, Zambia, led by large coffee plantations, has basically achieved modernization of its coffee industry, and they are also the absolute main force in the country's coffee exports. The most appropriate comment for Zambian coffee is "worth looking forward to," as fresh fruit flavors and acidity can be found in specialty coffee samples.

Zambia has a population of about 14.6 million people, with 2013 production (60kg/bags): 10,000 bags. The boundaries of coffee producing regions within Zambia are unclear, usually only distinguished by southern, central, Copperbelt Province, and northern regions. Main producing regions:

Northern producing region around Muchinga Mountains and near Lusaka city

Altitude: 900-2000 meters

Harvest period: April-September

Varieties: Bourbon, Catimor

In Summary

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