Africa Zimbabwe Coffee Growing Region - Zimbabwe Coffee Bean Flavor Characteristics & Zimbabwe Coffee Bean Quality

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Zimbabwean coffee may be rarely heard of nowadays, but Zimbabwe was once on par with major coffee-producing countries like Brazil, Kenya, and Ethiopia. After 2000, due to political turmoil and other reasons, Zimbabwe's coffee industry experienced a cliff-like decline. Even though Zimbabwe's coffee industry has begun to recover, it still lags behind African countries with well-developed infrastructure such as Malawi, Rwanda, and Kenya.

Planting Geography

Zimbabwe is located inland in southeastern Africa. Victoria Falls, the Zambesi River, the Kariba Dam upstream of the Zambezi River, and Lake Kariba formed by the dam's water storage together form Zimbabwe's northern border, adjacent to Zambia. Zimbabwe's entire eastern border is adjacent to Mozambique, with Botswana to the southwest and a portion of its southern border connected to South Africa, demarcated by the Limpopo River. The area is approximately 391,000 square kilometers.

The eastern border of Zimbabwe consists of mountainous terrain, while other areas belong to a three-tiered step-like plateau with elevations ranging from 800 to 1,500 meters, with the highest point in the entire territory reaching 2,592 meters. The northern region belongs to the Zambezi River basin, while the southern region belongs to the Limpopo and Sabi River basins. Most of Zimbabwe has a tropical savanna climate, with an average annual temperature of 22°C. The highest temperature reaches 32°C in October, while the lowest temperature occurs in July, approximately 13-17°C. Annual precipitation increases from 300mm in the southwest to 1,250mm in the northeast.

Coffee Cultivation History

Zimbabwe only began cultivating coffee in the early twentieth century, but around 1920, it nearly faced extinction due to pest infestations. Starting from 1950, as Indian and Kenyan coffee farmers migrated to Zimbabwe, the country acquired the knowledge and technology for producing high-quality coffee. Around the 1960s, farm owners in southern Africa began establishing coffee plantations and gradually started large-scale cultivation. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the acidity and fruit flavors contained in Zimbabwean coffee are similar to Kenyan coffee, though it has a higher concentration than Kenyan coffee, with stronger wine-like characteristics and aroma.

Coffee Growing Regions

Zimbabwe's coffee cultivation is mainly concentrated in the eastern highlands near the Mozambique border. The highlands are primarily formed by the Chimanimani mountain range and the Nyanga mountain range to the north, with the Nyanga range being sheltered by Mount Inyangani. Coffee growing regions are distributed in Mashonaland Province and Chipinge.

Mashonaland Province

Mashonaland is located in northern Zimbabwe, consisting of a series of mountainous areas near the Mozambique border. The highland climate is cooler and more humid than other regions in Africa, with higher rainfall. Due to its proximity to the Indian Ocean, there is abundant fog and dew.

Chipinge

As an important cradle of civilization in southern Africa, the Shona people established civilization here as early as the Middle Ages, creating the magnificent ancient city of Great Zimbabwe Ruins. Fifty kilometers east of the ancient city lies the Chipinge region, which produces the highest quality coffee beans in Zimbabwe and also leads the country in production volume. This eastern highland area, near the Mozambique border and formed by the Chimanimani and Nyanga mountain ranges, possesses all the conditions necessary for growing high-quality coffee: good soil conditions, higher altitude, and year-round precipitation.

Cultivated Varieties

Zimbabwe primarily grows Catimor: In 1959, Portuguese crossbred Brazilian Caturra with Timor to cultivate Catimor, a variety with strong disease resistance, which has become an important commercial coffee variety today. Catimor is a hybrid of Caturra and Timor—don't confuse it with Caturra and Catuai.

This highly disease-resistant plant has the ability to withstand coffee leaf rust, so it was widely cultivated in Latin American countries in the 1980s. Unfortunately, because the Timor variety (also known as Arabusta) is a natural hybrid of Typica Arabica and Robusta, although the latter can give it disease resistance, the delicate flavor profile of the Arabica variety is lost.

Coffee Processing Methods

Due to higher annual rainfall in Zimbabwe's northern growing regions, coffee beans are typically processed using the washed method. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the washed processing method enhances the cleanliness of coffee while better expressing the rich juice-like qualities and wine-like acidity characteristics of coffee beans from this region.

First, large amounts of water are added to the collected coffee fruits to wash away unripe fruits and impurities floating on the surface, for bean selection. Then, a pulper is used to remove the fruit skin and pulp. Next, they are placed in fermentation tanks for 18-36 hours, allowing fermentation bacteria to dissolve the mucilage on the coffee fruit surface. After cleaning with clear water, drying is performed.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Recommendations

When roasting washed coffee beans, the goal is typically to express them with more cleanliness and brightness, with clear main flavor notes. Therefore, the temperature development after the first crack cannot be too high. This is reflected in controlling the difference between the drop temperature and the first crack point within a certain range. The color difference between the bean surface and core should not be too significant, and the temperature rise should be as gradual as possible. FrontStreet Coffee's roaster recommends using a medium-light roast for Zimbabwean coffee beans, as this roast level can better express the acidity and aroma of the coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using the V60 conical dripper. The V60 has a relatively large opening, and combined with its unique spiral rib design, allows air to be more easily discharged, thereby improving extraction quality. The mouthfeel may not be as full-bodied, but its high concentration brings out sweet and sour notes with distinct aroma, which is one of its major characteristics.

Water temperature: 90-91°C

Grind size: Fine sugar size / 80% passes through a #20 sieve

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Coffee amount: 15 grams

For brewing technique, FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, which is a three-stage water pouring method. Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then use a small water stream to pour in circles to 125g and stop. Wait for the water level to drop before slowly pouring again with even speed, keeping the water level not too high, and stop when reaching 225g. Total extraction time is 2 minutes to 2 minutes 10 seconds (including bloom time).

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