How Does Tanzanian Kilimanjaro Coffee Taste? Is Tanzania Washed AA the Highest Grade?

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Tanzania Coffee: From Kilimanjaro's Heights

Tanzania is a typical East African country. When discussing Tanzanian coffee, one cannot overlook the coffee produced in the Mount Kilimanjaro region. Coffee was introduced to Tanzania by missionaries and is of the Bourbon variety. Located in northeastern Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest mountain range. Coffee from the Mount Kilimanjaro region is undoubtedly Tanzania's finest representative, and FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection includes coffee beans from Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro.

Unique Climate Conditions

When FrontStreet Coffee mentions African countries, many people might have impressions of Tanzania and other African nations as having hot and dry climates. However, the Mount Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania is an exception. Why does FrontStreet Coffee say this? Because although the mountain temperatures can reach as high as 59°C, the summit can maintain year-round snow cover, reaching as low as -34°C. Hence, Mount Kilimanjaro is also known as the "Equatorial Snow Peak." In terms of rainfall, valley areas receive 800-900mm annually, while the mountainous areas are cool and rainy, with windward slopes receiving 1600-1800mm annually. Coffee growing in the climate and geographical environment provided by this "Equatorial Snow Peak" is highly conducive to the accumulation of coffee substances.

In FrontStreet Coffee's view, these unique and distinctive climate conditions create a treasure trove for coffee cultivation. The volcanic soil of Mount Kilimanjaro's highlands is fertile, slightly acidic, and well-drained. The combination of climate and geology makes the coffee flavor more complex. Therefore, the Tanzanian coffee beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee possess excellent sweet aromas and red wine notes, featuring typical characteristics of African Ethiopian coffee beans.

Washed Processing Method

Due to Tanzania's abundant rainfall, the washed processing method is commonly used to treat coffee beans. The coffee beans from Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania's northern highlands, available at FrontStreet Coffee, are processed using the washed method. Coffee farmers send harvested coffee cherries to the nearest processing plant for processing. The typical washed processing method is as follows:

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 adhering to the parchment skin through fermentation.
4. After thorough cleaning, proceed with drying. When the coffee bean moisture content drops to around 11%, they can be stored in the warehouse.

Due to the washed processing, the silver skin midline of FrontStreet Coffee's Tanzanian Mount Kilimanjaro coffee beans is preserved. However, excessive silver skin on coffee beans is not ideal, as when the beans are ground into powder, the silver skin remains in the coffee powder, affecting the extraction of coffee substances.

Bean Characteristics and Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee's Tanzanian Kilimanjaro green coffee beans are uniform in size, slightly elongated in shape, and plump - typical of Ethiopian Typica coffee bean morphology. Commonly grown coffee varieties in Tanzania include Bourbon, Typica, and Kent. The Tanzanian coffee from FrontStreet Coffee is the ancient variety Typica, which exhibits excellent flavor characteristics and is recognized as a specialty coffee variety. Its only drawback is low yield and susceptibility to leaf rust disease.

Like neighboring Kenya, Tanzanian coffee also uses bean size grading standards, with the highest grade being AA, followed by AB. The washed Kilimanjaro coffee that FrontStreet Coffee acquired is the highest grade AA.

The new season Tanzanian Mount Kilimanjaro coffee beans have high moisture content, so dehydration time needs to be extended to ensure uniform heating of the bean surface and core. Additionally, to highlight the sweetness, acidity, and floral and fruity aromas of this Tanzanian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee decided to use medium-light roasting, extending the caramelization reaction after the first crack to make the sweetness more pronounced.

Cupping Notes and Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee then conducted cupping of these roasted coffee beans. The dry fragrance of the Tanzanian Mount Kilimanjaro coffee beans reveals fresh orange notes and caramel sensations. This aroma becomes even more pronounced in the wet fragrance. During FrontStreet Coffee's overall cupping process, when the coffee liquid was still hot, the flavor profile leaned more toward citrus, nuts, honey, and cream. After cooling, the characteristics transformed into acetic acid, cocoa, and spicy notes similar to black pepper.

After summarizing the cupping results of this Tanzanian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee found that its advantages include medium-high sweetness similar to honey, with good balance, but the drawback is medium-low acidity, not as pronounced as Kenyan coffee beans, and it develops a slight astringency when cooled. Therefore, the brewing approach should enhance strengths and minimize weaknesses, highlighting advantages while reducing the appearance of drawbacks. FrontStreet Coffee's brewing parameters for this coffee are: 15 grams of coffee beans, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature at 90°C, grind level #6M on a BG grinder, and V60 dripper.

Using FrontStreet Coffee's common three-stage pouring technique: bloom with 30g water for 30 seconds, pour with small water flow in circles to 125g for segmentation, continue pouring to 225g when the water level drops to just before exposing the coffee bed, and remove the dripper when the water level drops to just before exposing the coffee bed (timing starts from the bloom). Extraction time is 2'00". The brewed Tanzanian coffee features flavors leaning toward citrus and nuts, with smooth mouthfeel and black cocoa aftertaste. When cooled, it reveals honey sweetness and spicy notes, with reduced astringency.

Regional Comparison: Kilimanjaro vs Southern Tanzania

This represents the basic flavor profile of the Tanzanian Mount Kilimanjaro growing region, as Tanzania's coffee cultivation areas are mainly concentrated around Mount Kilimanjaro and southern Tanzania. FrontStreet Coffee has already cupped coffee beans from Mount Kilimanjaro, but how does the coffee flavor from southern Tanzania differ from Mount Kilimanjaro? FrontStreet Coffee was very curious and also conducted a comparative analysis of coffee beans from southern Tanzania.

These southern region coffee beans, like those from Mount Kilimanjaro, use the washed processing method common in Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe region, but the variety is Bourbon. Bourbon coffee also has high sweetness, bright acidity, and higher yield than Typica coffee, though similarly susceptible to leaf rust disease.

This southern Tanzanian coffee bean, like those from Mount Kilimanjaro, uses medium-light roasting to highlight the regional coffee flavors. Its cupping profile is as follows:

• Dry fragrance: Berries, fermentation
• Wet fragrance: Berries, floral aroma
• Cupping: Citrus, caramel, nuts, fermented aroma
• Flavor: FrontStreet Coffee used the same brewing method for this southern region coffee bean, revealing very intense floral notes with berry and citrus acidity, followed by nutty flavors in the finish.

Conclusion: Distinct Regional Characteristics

These two Tanzanian coffees each possess their own distinctive flavors. Coffee beans from different altitudes show very different flavor profiles. Southern Tanzania coffee has rich floral notes, wine-like characteristics, and gentle acidity; Mount Kilimanjaro region coffee has bright acidity, rich body, and due to fertile volcanic soil, carries mineral water-like sweetness. It is precisely because Tanzanian coffee has rich body, suitable acidity, and intense aroma that Europeans historically called Tanzanian coffee "Coffee Gentleman." Everyone can choose according to their own taste preferences.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473