Avenue Coffee - Juhudi Maarifa (Tanzania)

This beautiful coffee is grown on a plateau surrounded by gently sloping hills in the southwest highlands, near to the Zambian border. In 2009 the Best Coffee Farmer of the area was awarded a coffee processing unit by the Tanzania Coffee Board. He wanted to share his ideas on better farming practices with the neighbouring coffee farmers, as well as spread the cost of maintaining the unit. Unfortunately the group were unable to access the finances needed to maintain and manage the washing station – the upshot of this was that quality really suffered. 5 years later the Juhudi Maarifa group partnered with the TEMBO Coffee Co. who were able to assist in developing the project by providing working capital loans and capital expenditure. The first year of this partnership saw success with 28 metric tonnes of coffee produced – there are also high hopes for the coming season.

This coffee is a mixture of the two varietals N39 and KP423. N39 is a strain of the varietal Bourbon, providing great balance and complex acidity. KP423 is a cultivar of the Kent variety, which itself is a strain of the Typica varietal. Again it provides complexity, as well as outstanding sweetness. Both of these varietals are low yielding and not very resistant to diseases.