Jipemoyo Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) was founded in 1993, collecting mostly home-processed coffee. In 2017, they built a Coffee Processing Unit (CPU) and have since shifted to producing over 90% fully washed coffee. The cooperative serves 156 producers across several villages: Itete, Mlowo, Idunda, and Shinzingo. The cherries sourced from these smallholders grow in clay loam soil, with plantings primarily consisting of Bourbon derivates: 90% N 39 and 10% KP 423.

During harvest, the cooperative typically receives cherry between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m, and the pulper typically operates from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. After pulping, the parchment is graded via washing channels; afterward the parchment ferments for 24-48 hours, followed by thorough washing and soaking for 8-12 hours. Finally, it is dried on tables for 10-14 days. The water used comes from the Mbalizi river, located approximately 150 meters away from the CPU. This water is fed from Lake Ngozi, a volcanic crater surrounded by mountains; the water is renowned for its purity, making it a valuable resource for coffee processing.

Country of Origin: Tanzania

Region: Mbeya

Producer Type: Washing Station

Processing Description: Fermented 28-48 hours. sun dried on raised beds

Growing Altitude: 1550 MASL

Plant Species: Arabica

Varietal: KP423

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.