Tanzania Iloma Natural comes to us from the Illoma AMCOS (AMCOS is the local term for a cooperative, abbreviated from Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society). Specifically, the coffee from producer-members in the villiages of Idiwili, Haraka, Idunda, Igale, Hezya, Lukululu, Nyimbili, Mafumbo, Isend and Ilomba. Ripe cherry is hand-sorted to remove under ripe and overripe cherries. Subsequently the coffee is sorted again through floatation in water from the nearby Shidawa river, leaving only ripe and dense beans. These cherries are washed and transported to trying tables where they are turned twice per hour for the first ten days, and covered at night to prevent re-absorption of water. The cherry is dried for a total of 24-30 days until the dried cherry reaches 10% moisture content.
Iyela FG and Iloma AMCOS
Tanzania Iloma Natural is produced specifically by the Iyela Farmers Group, members of the Iloma AMCOS. The Iyela farmer group was founded in 2011 with only two members who, at the time, were collecting home processed parchment. In 2016 they decided to set up a central processing facility with a small drum pulper machine. Subsequently, they collected 55 tons of fully washed parchment and 300 tons of home processed.
In 2018, due to regulation changes, the Iyela Farmers Group joined the Iloma Amcos. They chose the name Iloma, a combination of the two main villages where the farmers live: Mafumbo and Ilomba. The group continued to grow, from 119 members in 2016 to 215 in 2008. With the help of a city loan, Iloma purchased a Penagos pulper machine in 2020. This investment allowed the group to increase its output to 360 tons of fully washed parchment and home processed to 815 tones.
(We also carry a washed offering from Iloma AMCOS, Tanzania Iloma.)
