Tanzania – Amkeni

Next roast date: 26th of May. Next shipping date: 28th of May.

The coffee is produced by the Amkeni in Mwika village, located on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Amkeni is made up of 45 coffee producers who have been working together since 1999 and processing their coffee collectively. Because Amkeni processes the coffee independently, they made a great effort from the beginning to produce high-quality coffee. This effort paid off in 2001 when they received the Certificate of Best Coffee from the Tanzania Coffee Association. Since then, they have continuously worked on improving the quality of their coffee, which has become better year after year.

However, for a long time, the producers did not receive any extra money for their high quality, because the coffee was sold like any other coffee on the local market at a price set by the New York Commodity Market. Amkeni had two options: either lower the quality of the coffee and reduce the amount of work, or find direct access to the market and be paid fairly.

Fortunately for all of us, they got to know This Side Up (my importer from the Netherlands), which gave them access to the European market and appreciated the quality they were producing, rewarding them with higher payments. Thanks to this, the cooperative now has the opportunity to reinvest money into their production, improve coffee processing, and renovate their offices. It’s a win–win–win situation: Amkeni earns more money, This Side Up can market better coffee, and you and I get to drink even better coffee. 😉

A few years ago, I also met two of the local actors from Wanza (an exporter) in Tanzania, in Milan. Frank and Rebecca take care of both the producers from the various cooperatives and agroforestry projects on the producers' plantations.

This coffee is quite a complex coffee, with a bunch of different taste notes that linger for a long time. Taste notes found in this coffee are chocolate and nuts.but also more funky ones like dried fruit and rasberries.

• COOP: Amkeni
• Grown in Mwika, Tanzania
• Altitude: 1600 – 1725m
• SCA score (on a scale of 100): 86.25 points (excellent)
• Taste notes: chocolate, nuts, dried fruits, rasberries
• Varieties: Bourbon, Jackson Bourbon
• Process: washed
• 100% Arabica
• Harvested by hand
• Fairly traded