Tanzania AA Itumpi Co-op Washed

Blackcurrant, black tea, toffee
TOP LOT
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Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Harvest Season 2023/24
Status Spot
Lot Number P8002324-2
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About This Coffee

This AA fully washed top lot is sourced from Itumpi AMCOS (Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Society) in Mbozi district, Songwe region. The co-op was founded in the 1970s under the name 'Umajaa' but changed its name to Itumpi in 1994. Today the group has 160 registered members who deliver ripe cherry to a central washing station for processing, which opened in 2019 and has elevated the coffee quality significantly. 

Origin Tanzania
Subregion Mbozi, Songwe
Harvest Season 2023/24
Producer Type Cooperative
Co-Op Itumpi
Processing Washed
Growing Altitude 1500m - 1700m
Plant Species Arabica
Variety Bourbon
Coffee Grade TZA CA WA AA
Screen Size 18 Up
Bag Weight 60 KG BAG
Bag Types Grain Pro / Ecotact

History of Coffee in Tanzania

Like other coffee growing regions in East Africa, it seems likely that coffee may have been known as a garden crop grown for barter and consumption (chewing rather than brewing) as early as the 16th century. German occupiers introduced commercial cultivation of at the end of the 19th century and coffee became an exported cash crop. Following WWI, the British took control of the region and the estate model was firmly established for coffee. During the transition years from British “protection” to independence, coffee farming cooperative began to emerge and would eventually dominate coffee production after formal independence in 1961. Today, 95% of coffee farmers are smallholders, growing coffee on less than 5 acres of land.

Growing Coffee in Tanzania

Exports from nearly every coffee growing country in Africa are lower now than they were twenty years ago. The most notable exception is Ethiopia, where coffee exports have reached 3 million bags, nearly double the number in 1997. Less dramatic, but nevertheless unique for Africa, is the strong and steady growth in Tanzania. Taking the average number of bags exported annually 2007-2017—to account for crop fluctuations—Tanzania experienced an increase of 11 percent over the previous 10 years. That might not seem like much until you consider that only two other African countries have experienced growth by the same measure, Ethiopia (37%) and Uganda (1%). Tanzania broke the million bags exported ceiling for the first time in 2009 and did it again in 2013. This increase in exports has coincided with a near 600 percent increase in domestic coffee consumption over twenty years. The only coffee growing country to experience a more dramatic increase is Vietnam, where domestic coffee consumption has grown by 700 percent over the same period.

  • Subregion Mbozi, Songwe
  • Producer Type Cooperative
  • Processing Washed
  • Bag Types Grain Pro / Ecotact
  • Plant Species Arabica
  • Variety Bourbon
  • Min Growing Altitude 1500m
  • Max Growing Altitude 1700m
  • Screen Size 18 Up
  • Co-Op Itumpi
  • On Sale No
  • Top Lot Yes
  • Price Per Kg £7.40
  • Status Spot
  • Coffee Grade TZA CA WA AA
  • CTRM Contract Number P8002324-2
  • Origin Tanzania
  • Warehouse Vollers Group Uk