Our Southern Highlands is a blend of AA and AB lots from a number of Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (or, AMCOS) that work with our Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) colleagues at Ibero Tanzania, the country’s largest exporter.
“Some of these southern AMCOS are producing such good coffee now,” the team at Ibero tells us. “Many are even better than estate coffees.”
In 2018, changes in federal regulations determined that each village could have only one AMCOS. The Ibero Tanzania team has since been working with a number of AMCOS across southern Tanzania, helping them to build efficient and cost-effective washing stations. Ibero also lent them funding to purchase materials for the stations, with a repayment arrangement of three years. The arrangement was so successful that upon repayment, many of the AMCOS requested the loan again, to this time purchase their own de-pulpers.
Consolidating production has dramatically improved quality, along with the presence of washing-station managers, who the AMCOS pay a service fee for and who ensure that quality standards are consistently high and met, including that only ripe cherry is processed.
Cupping notes: Tangerine, black cherry, chocolate syrup, caramel, molasses; bright acidity, silky body.
