Tanzania Isaiso

Region: Songwe
Altitude: 1, 350 - 1,490 m.a.s.l.
Variety: Kent, Bourbon, Compact
Process: Washed

Tasting notes:  Sweet and gently fruity, this coffee is well balanced with a satisfying depth of flavour. Initial notes of apricot jam develop into sweet almond and melted milk chocolate finish.

This coffee was produced by a 421 member cooperative in the Songwe region of southern Tanzania. We love its big brown sugar and honey sweetness and its gentle, balanced acidity. Brew it like we do, as an espresso, or put it in your cafetiere or moka pot for a clean, sweet cup. 

Though less well known for its coffee than neighbouring Kenya, Tanzania’s similar landscape produces similarly high quality coffee. Coffee was brought by German colonizers in the late 19th century and today is counted as one of the top agricultural exports, with over 320,000 smallholders relying on it for income.

This coffee was grown by members of the Isaiso Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS), which was created in 2008. Isaiso AMCOS is located in the Songwe region in southern Tanzania, bordering Zambia and Malawi. In 2023, coffee from this AMCOS placed first at the Tanzania Fine Coffees Competition.

Harvest begins with producers selectively handpicking their cherries at peak ripeness which they process at their homes. They use hand pulpers to peel away the skin and external fruit immediately after harvest. After pulping the beans are fermented in water-filled tanks for a maximum of 72 hours to break down the remaining mucilage.

Once the beans have been cleaned they are sun dried on raised beds for nine to ten days. Once dry, the beans are delivered to the Isaiso drymill to be hulled and rested prior to export. The beans are graded and sorted at the mill prior to selling directly into the market or into the auction system, which is common in Tanzania.

This lot is comprised of Kent, Bourbon and Compact varieties. The Compact variety was created by the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI) as farmers were facing Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) and Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR). It is resistant to disease and it has a higher yield compared to older varieties. Bourbon is one of the original varieties of Arabica coffee to be spread round the world so it is the mother stock for many newer cultivars. The Kent variety was developed on the Kent estate in Mysore, India. It was the first useful CLR-resistant cultivar, meaning it was able to resist the Coffee Leaf Rust fungus, which is a common problem for coffee growers.

According to a 2024 market report the Tanzania Coffee Board distributed 13 million improved seedlings to farmers as of November 2023, with plans to distribute 25 million total by the end of 2025. This investment aims to boost production on existing farms by replacing their ageing, low-yield stock. 

For more about the history of coffee in Tanzania and its importance today, read more on the website of our importer for this coffee, Mercanta. We’ve been buying coffee from Mercanta for nearly a decade and they, in turn, have been buying and selling green coffee for nearly 20 years.

A note about packaging