Tanzania Finagro Ascona Anaerobic Maceration

This exciting selection comes from Finagro Ascona Estate, owned by the Vohora family. It's processed in a relatively new and increasingly popular method called Anaerobic Maceration. This process imparts a "spicy-ness" to the coffee along with highlighting funky and fruity flavors already present in the bean. Look for notes of honeydew and tropical fruit mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Arrival Date: March 12th, 2021

Acidity & Brightness: Muted acidity, fairly sweet

Balance & Finish: Complex with a lingering, spicy finish

Body & Texture: Medium bodied, smooth, silky texture

Flavors: Honeydew, tropical fruit, cinnamon and nutmeg

Grade: 16/17/18 Screen, grown at 1700 masl

Processing: Carbonic maceration and dried in raised beds

Varietals: Ethiopian cultivars

Roasting: We prefer this coffee City + to Full City (Light-medium to medium). This allows more of the fruit flavors to shine through so they aren't overwhelmed with spice. Feel free to take it darker to bring out more spicy-ness.

Reminder! This coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing

Our Review: "This coffee is sourced from a family-owned estate located in the Karatu district of Tanzania. The Finagro Estate is located on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater, which is the largest unbroken caldera in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More than 25,000 wild animals, including the largest population of lions, make their home within the crater walls. The Vohora family has owned and managed the Finagro Estate for three generations. Finagro has 450 acres of coffee split between two coffee farms (Ascona and Helgoland), a newly renovated wet-mill, and a dry mill facility, which ensures quality control and traceability throughout the entire process. The farms are also well diversified with more than 120 bee hives for honey production, Macadamia tree nursery producing more than 10,000 seedlings per year and an agroforestry program." - Royal Coffee

Anaerobic Maceration is a fairly new processing method that has been gaining popularity in the last few years. It focuses on the fermentation part of coffee processing which you can see in the name as Maceration refers to the metabolic process that occurs during fermentation. Nearly all coffee goes through some amount of fermentation during processing! For example, natural processing allows the fruit to dry on the beans and during this time the fruit encounters naturally occurring microbes in the environment which converts the sugars in the fruit into alcohol. The main difference between this "wild" fermentation and the fermentation that occurs in Anaerobic Maceration is that oxygen is allowed to play a role in the process. This would be called Aerobic fermentation. Anaerobic fermentation keeps environmental oxygen out of the process and only certain microbes can "macerate" in a sealed, oxygen deprived environment, leading to a more controlled and slower fermentation. The slowdown of fermentation also necessitates a longer processing time, usually around 3-5 days in the sealed environment before the coffee is then washed, dried and sorted.

All that is to say, Anaerobic Maceration leads to a very unique flavor profile! We noticed more spicy tones in what would otherwise have been a fairly delicate and subtle Tanzanian cup. This combination makes for quite a unique drinking experience that we thoroughly enjoyed! This coffee has muted acidity and a medium body with a silky smooth texture. Look for complex flavors of sweet honeydew and tropical fruit mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg.