Crema Trekkers: Explore Tanzania AB Top Mamsera
- 28 Aug 2018
TANZANIA COFFEE BEANS
The Tanzania AB Top Mamsera single origin coffee is grown by hundreds of farmers who are members of the Mamsera Agriculture Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS). They primarily process Bourbon, N39 and Kent varieties and cultivars, grown at approximately 1,400-1,700m above sea level.
Bourbon is a parent to a variety of Arabica varieties, named after Bourbon Island (now known as Reunion Island) where it is derived from. It’s a short tree with many secondary branches and on average produces 25% more coffee than the Typica variety. The Bourbon variety is renowned for its exceptional sweet/acid balance, and is considered by many producers and roasters to be a classic everyday drinking coffee.
Both N39 (Bourbon) & KP423 (Kent) were developed by the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute primarily for high yield.
The Tanzania AB Top Mamsera single origin coffee is best suited to espresso, both as a black and milk coffee. It also brews deliciously in filter brew methods such as Pour Over, Chemex and Plunger.
Tasting Notes: Orange acidity and medium body, with a sweet spices and chocolate aroma. It features notes of raisins, red grapes, dark chocolate and has a winey smooth and balanced flavour.
MAMSERA - TANZANIA
Mamsera AMCOS was founded in 1984 and initially served farmers in three villages (Mamsera Juu, Mamsera Chini and Mamsera Kati). Currently, the Mamsera group is still operating in these villages but has expanded to cover several neighbouring villages and now has up to 2,000 farming members. The organization can eliminate middlemen who exploit farmers by buying cheaply from individual producers and then sell dearly to the market.
The Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) refers to the cooperatives principal object is the business of supplying inputs for agricultural crop production the purchasing, processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products. They are essentially based in rural areas with. (Cooperative Society Act No 20, 2003) The marketing part of the cooperative works on procuring inputs, joint bargaining, facilitating credit, transportation, warehousing and providing education and skills for the improvement of the commodity which they produce.
Mamsera is managed by 10 board members, who are all farmer members of the group, and these board members are always elected every three years. The co-operative has expanded its income activities by setting up agronomic input shops which service the farmers in the area. Taylor Winch and Rafiki started working with Mamsera in 2002 and has been involved with extension services with the group since 2014.
THE GREEN BEAN PROCESS
The washed process relies on every stage of the growing, harvest and fermentation process being right, as the flavour is totally reliant on the bean having absorbed enough nutrients and sugars while growing.
Mamsera coffee is fully washed and is processed at home using locally made hand pulping machines and fermented in buckets and dried either on mats on the ground or on drying tables. Once the parchment is dry it is delivered to the central collection centre where it is stored until there is sufficient volume to fill a truck when the coffee is transported to Moshi to the local dry mill facility.
Image Sources:
https://www.encorecoffeeco.com/blogs/blog/tp
http://www.kncutanzania.com/#!/page_home
https://nordicapproach.no/tanzania/
http://www.philliesbridgecoffee.com/store/p24/Tanzania_Mara_AB_-_Tarime_%2812oz%29.html
