Tanzania - Finagro Estate AA

Region: Karatu District, Arusha Region, Tanzania

Notes: Orange Blossom, Ruby Grapefruit, Cherry

Process: Washed 

Grade: AA

Variety: Kent, SL-28, SL-34

Altitude: 1600 - 1800 masl

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FARM NOTES:

This is a single-estate AA preparation lot from the Vohora siblings, part of an outstanding, multi-generational family who take climate preservation and quality equally seriously. The Vohoras manage a combined 1000 hectares of gorgeous coffee farm and forest preserve along the rim of northern Tanzania’s Ngorongoro crater, and produce a stunning variety of profiles, through variety and process separation, year after year.

Finagro Estate is a 600-hectare coffee plantation in the Karatu district of Tanzania. The estate is technically comprised of two conjoined farms—Ascona and Helgoland—and is currently owned and managed by Neel and Kavita Vohora, siblings, multi-generation coffee growers, and agricultural entrepreneurs in this extremely unique part of East Africa. Both farms are cultivated along the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest unbroken caldera in the world and a breathtakingly scenic landscape of escarpments and fertile open range that has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979.

Processing for the AA grade involves a brief cherry fermentation lasting 24 hours after picking. Then the coffee is depulped, fermented for 36-72 hours, shade dried for 3 days, and finished by drying in full sun for another week. Why AA? Screen size-based grades dominate Tanzania’s coffee exports the way they do in Kenya and the more commercial grades of Colombia and Brazil. AA grade coffee in Tanzania is designated by screen size 18 and understood to be superior in cup to smaller size beans (though there is a robust demand market for peaberries in Tanzania, perhaps more than anywhere). Single-screen coffees from specialty producers and high elevations roast beautifully thanks to the tightly-controlled size and density, and for the same reason the cup is often more focused and clearer than multi-screen versions of the same coffee.

Finagro Estate, to us, is a coffee paradise. Natural forest canopy shades the trees over the combined 600 hectares of land, much of which is left to natural forest. There are four new reservoirs and a dam allowing efficient irrigation and conservation of water. Growing mainly Kent (a Bourbon variety first cultivated in India) along with newly maturing SL-28s and SL-34s, and other newer Kenyan cultivars, the clear focus is quality, and it’s exhilarating to see the attention and dedication of two young farmers who are clearly resolved to make the most of their very special corner of the planet.