Tanzania Peaberry Plus Washed 2024

Tanzania Peaberry Plus

The award-winning Isaiso Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) was founded in 2008 and boasts 350 farmer members. Most of them are smallholders with farms ranging from one to two hectares at 1350-1490masl. In 2023, the Isaiso AMCOS won the Tanzania Fine Coffee Competition with this peaberry coffee, an outstanding achievement for all the hard work they put into improving both volume and quality.

In Tanzania, AMCOS manage 95% of the country’s coffee production. Smallholders must be registered to an AMCOS to qualify for support in production, processing, storage, transport, marketing, and government aid. Without membership, their raw green coffee would have no way of reaching the global market.

Peaberry Coffee from Tanzania

Peaberry coffee is a result of genetic mutation where only one seed develops inside a coffee cherry instead of two. Peaberries are usually smaller, denser, and rounder than regular coffee beans. Around 1 in 9 coffee cherries result in a peaberry; it takes patience to sort these out from the rest of the beans.

Washed Coffee Processing at CPUs

Many AMCOS have Coffee Production Units (CPUs) that process cherries for member farmers. Freshly picked cherries are delivered on the same day to a CPU, where they’re sorted and pulped.

The beans are fermented in tanks for up to 72 hours before they’re pushed through washing channels with wooden shunts. During this stage, denser, higher quality beans sink, while beans of lower grades float. The different grades are separated then sun-dried on raised beds for up to 14 days.

How is Tanzania green coffee graded?

Around 90% of the Arabica coffee from Tanzania is wash processed at either an AMCOS CPU or at home with a hand pulper. Tanzania employs its own grading system, which shares similarities with the one used in Kenya, that factors in species, bean size, density, processing method, and cup characteristics. The scale ranges from AA (screen sizes 17 & 18, AB (15 & 16), C (14 & 15), and PB for peaberry – a highly coveted classification for Tanzania green coffee beans.

Tanzanian Green Coffee Bean Production

Tanzania has all of the potential in the world. It is one of the largest countries in Africa by area, and its annual Arabica production rivals its better-known neighbor, Kenya. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts that Tanzania’s green coffee production will grow at one of the world’s fastest rates, but supply chain complexity could slow things down. Learn more in our Tanzanian Green Coffee Origin Report.