Tanzania Ruvuma AA

Sweet, balanced and silky. Although Tanzania is famous for peaberry, this is a flat bean and fans of peaberry will find the profiles similar but a bit more flavor forward and pronounced. 

Arrival Date: January 26th, 2018

Acidity & Brightness: Moderately bright and crisp

Balance & Finish: Well balanced, lingering finish

Body & Texture: Medium to full bodied, silky smooth texture. 

Flavors: Black tea, peach, tangerine

Grade: AA (largest bean available)

Processing: Fully washed, hand picked, sun dried

Varietals: Bourbon N5 & N39

Roasting: City + (Medium light) to Full city + (medium dark). This coffee will support a wide range of profiles and roasts evenly. Lighter roasts will bring out more citrus notes with a more tea like body, darker will bring out more stone fruit and a fuller body.  

Reminder: This coffee is raw. You have to roast it before brewing.

Our Review: To a lot of people, Tanzania coffee means peaberry.  Peaberry beans probably claim a higher percentage of the total export crop from Tanzania than that coming from any other country. On the other hand, Tanzania produces some very fine flat bean (normal shaped beans) coffee as well. We think the crop coming from the Ruvuma region clearly proves that. 

Ruvuma is  a region in southwestern Tanzania.  It is named for the Ruvuma River which flows along the southern border with Mozambique. Administratively, it is divided into 5 districts-- Tunduru, Mbinga, Namtumbo, Songea Urban and Songea Rural.  For some time Ruvuma has produced some high quality coffee, but the remoteness, the poor infrastructure, and unstable political situation all conspired to keep this coffee from reliably reaching the market. That seems to be changing somewhat, and the farmers in the area and coffee consumers are both benefiting. With well drained volcanic soils, moderate temperatures, high elevation (3900-5900 feet above sea level) abundant rainfall, and a predictable dry season--the Ruvuma region is sort of a coffee heaven.

The coffee itself is produced by small-holding growers near Lake Nyasa. For those of you who are real coffee nerds, it comes from N5 and N39 Bourbon varietals. It's processing is fully washed and sun dried. For the rest of us, it's fruit forward with notes of black tea,  In the cup you'll find it classically big, with bright acidity, a silky mouthfeel and what some refer to as a juicy cup .The fruit in particular lingers in a flavor-saturated finish.