TANZANIA IDIWILI #1399

Curator's Notes

We can always count on Barry Faught, founder of Broadcast Coffee, to source beans from all corners of the world. Broadcast’s Tanzania Idiwili is a stellar light roast that is more heavy bodied than what we typically find from washed Ethiopian or Kenyan coffees, and remains sweet and fruit-driven. Creamy, savory-sweet notes of rooibos honeybush tea are balanced by soft citrus and a light strawberry finish. Coffee from Tanzania doesn’t come across our tasting table often, making this an unexpected summertime gem!

Roaster's Notes

According to the Tanzania Coffee Board, coffee was first introduced to the areas around Moshi in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1898. Today, the northern areas of Moshi and Arusha (at the base of Mt. Meru) and the southern area of Mbeye remain known for producing some of the best quality in the country. While most of Tanzania’s coffee is produced by smallholder farmers (90% according to Philippe Jobin’s Coffees Produced Throughout the World), some large estates exist in the north owned and operated by European families and corporations. Atlas partners with their sister company Ibero (NKG East Africa) to source traceable lots from three different AMCOS (agricultural and marketing cooperative societies) from the Mbeye area of Southern Tanzania, and they are some of the best Tanzania offerings they have had in nearly a decade. Since Ibero stayed in Tanzania when most other millers and exporters were leaving, they have a great relationship with many AMCOS in the area, working with each to build small-scale and affordable washing stations, improve quality and agronomy practices, and partner with locals schools to start coffee clubs for the area’s youth. Idiwili AMCOS was created in December 2016. They began with home-processed parchment but soon realized the potential to produce high-quality coffee. So in 2019, they purchased a pulper and built some drying tables to produce fully-washed coffee. The farmers deliver cherries from 2-6 pm, with the pulper being turned on at 3 pm. After being pulped and sorted into various grades in the washing channels, the parchment is fermented for 24-48 hours, washed, then soaked for 8 hours, and dried on raised beds for 11 -14 days. Idiwili AMCOS hopes to upgrade their facility by building new fermentation tanks, additional drying tables, and eventually a store to house their coffee before it’s taken to the mill.