Is Coffee Grown on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania? How Are Tanzanian Coffee Beans?

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Today, FrontStreet Coffee is introducing a coffee bean from the Kilimanjaro region in northern Tanzania, Africa.

FrontStreet Coffee has conducted several different roasting adjustments for this Kilimanjaro coffee bean, ultimately determining its roasting parameters. Through pour-over brewing, we discovered that Kilimanjaro coffee beans have distinct fruity acidity, though not as intense as Kenyan coffee, leaning more toward citrus and berry notes with rich sweetness. It's a uniquely regional African coffee bean.

This is the essential path FrontStreet Coffee takes with every new coffee bean. Roasting not only requires the roaster's understanding of the bean's origin but also involves cupping and pour-over tasting sessions to determine if the roasting curve is appropriate. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee often encounters situations where a single cup of coffee requires multiple evaluations. While this is time-consuming, FrontStreet Coffee believes it's necessary. Without repeated trial processes, FrontStreet Coffee will not easily put a coffee bean on the shelves.

FrontStreet Coffee — Tanzania Kilimanjaro Coffee

Region: Northern Highlands, Kilimanjaro Volcanic Region
Variety: Bourbon
Processing: Washed
Grade: AA
Altitude: 1300-2000m

Tanzania

In Tanzania, coffee is known as "kahawa." Tanzania is a typical East African country, bordering Kenya and Uganda to the north, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to the south, and Rwanda and Burundi to the west. The coffee history here is quite long, with coffee cultivation covering an area of about 250,000 hectares.

When mentioning Tanzanian coffee, many coffee professionals first think of Kilimanjaro coffee. That's right—it has a unique "Kilimanjaro flavor" with rich body, moderate acidity, and strong aroma, earning it the reputation of "coffee gentleman."

Compared to its neighbor Kenya, FrontStreet Coffee finds that Tanzanian coffee has less bright acidity, appearing gentler and more approachable, with added sweetness. Strong red wine notes are also a characteristic of Tanzanian coffee.

Although not as famous as Kenyan beans, its annual production is nearly equal to Kenya's, reaching 50,000 tons. The earliest Arabica seeds were introduced from Reunion (French Réunion Island) and planted in the Bayamoyo and Mogoro regions. In 1893, beans planted on the slopes of Kilimanjaro became the most successful coffee beans. Other varieties were subsequently introduced from neighboring Burundi in the 1950s and planted in western Tanzania. Currently, 75% is mainly grown in high-altitude areas, while local wild coffee continues to appear.

Unlike most African producing countries, Tanzanian coffee bags are not the common jute bags but rough fiber bags made from agave leaves. This is because the local government prohibits the use of jute bags to protect Tanzania's sisal industry.

Cultivated Varieties

The most commonly planted coffee varieties in Tanzania are Bourbon, Typica, and Kent.

Bourbon

Bourbon is also a natural variety originating from Yemen. Its name comes from its original planting location, Bourbon Island, which is now Réunion Island. During the French colonial period, the French often exported this coffee overseas, especially to the United States. Bourbon coffee cherries are small and round, with high density in both pulp and seeds. Bourbon coffee typically has high sweetness and bright acidity. Bourbon coffee production is 20-30% higher than Typica but is still considered a low-yield variety and is similarly susceptible to leaf rust disease.

Generally, when we talk about Bourbon variety, we mostly refer to Red Bourbon. Because after Red Bourbon coffee trees flower and bear fruit, the color changes of coffee cherries follow: green > slight yellow > slight orange > mature red > darker overripe red. Therefore, some people call Red Bourbon the Bourbon variety grown at high altitudes, usually with better aroma and brighter acidity, even tasting similar to red wine. This Tanzania Kilimanjaro variety from FrontStreet Coffee is precisely the Bourbon variety.

Typica

Typica has excellent flavor expression and is recognized as a specialty coffee variety, but it has extremely low yield and is susceptible to rust disease, requiring more human management. Typica coffee originates from Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. The plant is relatively robust but not tolerant to strong light. Typica's top leaves are bronze-colored, earning it the name "red-top coffee."

Kent

Kent is a Typica hybrid variety discovered in 1911 at the Kent coffee plantation in the Mysore region of India. It's a hybrid of S288 and Typica, featuring high yield and rust resistance. The coffee aroma has more body than Bourbon varieties and has been introduced to New World producing countries like Kenya and Indonesia, making outstanding contributions.

Kilimanjaro Volcanic Region

Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro reaches an altitude of 5,895 meters and is connected to Mount Meru. Coffee here grows at altitudes between 1,150 and 1,500 meters. It's Tanzania's largest coffee-producing region and an important economic lifeline. Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak on the African continent and the only snow-capped peak on Earth located on the equator. Fertile volcanic ash gives coffee here rich body and gentle acidity, with typical characteristics of African coffee beans.

Tanzania's coffee-producing regions include the northern highlands around Mount Kilimanjaro, such as Moshi and Mbeya, while the southern regions are mainly the Songea-Ruvuma area through which the Ruvuma River flows.

ARUSHA

Arusha is adjacent to the producing areas around Mount Kilimanjaro. This region surrounds the dormant Meru volcano, which has been inactive since 1910.

Altitude: 1100-1800 meters
Harvest Period: July-December
Varieties: Kent, Bourbon, Typica

Ruvuma

This region is located in the southernmost part of Tanzania, named after the Ruvuma River. Coffee is planted in the Mbinga area and is considered a region with potential for producing high-quality coffee, though development has been hindered by insufficient funding in the past.

Altitude: 1200-1800 meters
Harvest Period: June-October
Varieties: Kent, Bourbon, and N5 and N39 derived from Bourbon

KNCU & TCMB

In the past, Tanzania's coffee industry was dominated by estate cultivation, but now over 85% is grown by small farmers. Many small farmers form cooperative organizations, with the most important being the Kilimanjaro Cooperative Union (KNCU). Tanzanian coffee is sold to private exporters through auctions by the Tanzanian Coffee Marketing Board (TCMB). In the 1980s, most Tanzanian coffee sales shifted from auction format to direct sales to the Tanzanian Coffee Marketing Board. This situation has now changed, and the coffee industry is undergoing reforms to allow individuals or groups to purchase coffee in the future. Coffee will then be graded differently to attract buyers from Germany, Finland, Belgium, and Japan.

Washed Processing

This Tanzania Kilimanjaro from FrontStreet Coffee uses washed processing. Tanzanian coffee mostly uses washed processing methods, where farmers send harvested coffee cherries to the nearest processing plant for processing. The washed method is currently the most widely used processing technique, utilizing washing and fermentation to remove the skin, pulp, and mucilage.

Washed Processing Steps:

1. Screen and remove impurities mixed in the coffee cherries
2. Remove the coffee pulp and outer skin
3. Send to fermentation tanks to remove the mucilage layer attached to the parchment through fermentation
4. Clean thoroughly before drying

Grading System

Tanzania's coffee grading system is the same as Kenya's, grading based on coffee bean size. During screening, green coffee beans pass through screens with fixed-size holes. Larger screen numbers indicate larger green coffee bean particles.

AA Grade: Screen size between 17-18 (7.20mm sieve)
AB Grade: Screen size between 15-16 (6.8mm-6.2mm sieve)
PB Grade: Round green beans, accounting for about 10% of all coffee beans
C Grade: Screen size between 12-14 (4.8mm-5.6mm sieve)

Roasting Profile

Kilimanjaro coffee consists of uniform large coffee beans with gray-green color, featuring strong acidity and sweet aroma with excellent flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roaster chose medium-light roasting, which releases sweetness and light acidity after roasting.

Charge temperature: 170°C, Yellowing point: 6'30'', 150.8°C, First crack: 10'16'', 182.7°C, First crack development: 1'45'', drop at 193°C.

Brewing Parameters

Dripper: V60
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Water temperature: 91°C
Grind size: BG#5G

Brewing Method

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also known as three-stage pouring.

First Pour: Bloom (helps release gas)

Coffee beans undergo a series of chemical reactions and physical changes during the roasting process from green to roasted beans. After reaching a certain degree of roasting, coffee beans accumulate large amounts of gas (mostly carbon dioxide).

Generally, the fresher the coffee and the closer to roasting, the more bubbling during blooming. Dark roasted beans also release more gas during blooming than light roasted beans. FrontStreet Coffee's coffee beans are freshly roasted, so we generally recommend customers let the beans rest for three days first, allowing the coffee beans to release carbon dioxide first, avoiding instability and under-extraction issues during brewing.

After blooming releases gas, coffee particles can absorb water evenly, allowing for more uniform extraction later. Good blooming can help coffee powder quickly and evenly release gas while also allowing coffee powder to fully and quickly contact water, helping the coffee powder to be extracted evenly.

Second Pour

The second pour starts from the center, injecting a small water column into the bottom of the coffee bed. To concentrate the water column's penetration power, the circular movement range should be small, about the size of a coin, then expand outward. From the second water addition, pay attention to water volume, trying not to exceed the height of the coffee bed. That is, when the water column approaches close to the filter paper, you can stop adding water.

Third Pour

As the originally thicker coffee bed near the filter paper becomes heavier from absorbing water and slides down and thins as the water level drops, you can perform the third pour when the water level drops to halfway. Starting from the third water addition, observe the water level's drop range, also starting from the center and circling outward, with water volume not exceeding the coffee bed height. At this point, you'll also notice foam covering the surface. The third pour should increase the tumbling of coffee particles, causing all settled particles to tumble and dissolve soluble substances.

Tumbling particles will begin to settle when water addition stops. At this point, rely on the flow rate caused by the dropping water level to create friction between coffee particles. Once water addition stops, coffee powder particles sink downward, causing blockages. Therefore, pay special attention to the rhythm of water addition. If there are too many water breaks, it's equivalent to letting coffee powder particles soak in water continuously, which will lead to astringency and off-flavors in the tail section of coffee extraction.

Flavor Description

Berry aroma, with citrus acidity upon entry. The acidity is gentle and refreshing, with honey sweetness in the middle, tea-like notes in the aftertaste, and a pleasant lingering finish.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473