Tanzania-Usongwe AB

The Usongwe Cooperative was registered in 1993 under the Tanzanian Cooperative Act and takes its name from the surrounding area and nearby Usongwe Valley. Most member farms are between 0.5 and 1.5 hectares, with trees that are between 20 and 35 years old. Farmers intercrop their coffee with banana trees, maize and beans, for additional income and their own use, but coffee is their main source of income. At home, Usongwe members use hand-operated de-pulping machines to remove the fruit, then hand wash the coffee in buckets and dry them on homemade drying tables. Once sufficiently dry, the coffee is brought to the mill, where is hulled and graded, which includes separating the beans by size (AA, AB, Peaberry, etc.), which can create quite different cup profiles.