Tanzania

Roughly 70% arabica and 30% robusta, mostly from smallholders. Graded by bean size and density, with peaberry a named grade.

Tanzania's largest export crop is coffee, averaging 30,000-40,000 tonnes a year, roughly 70% arabica and 30% robusta. More than 90% of output comes from smallholders. Arabica is grown in areas including North Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Mbinga, the Matengo Highlands, Kigoma and the Usambara Mountains, while robusta is centered on Kyerwa and Karagwe in Kagera. Harvest is traditionally October to February. Grading follows British-style nomenclature by bean shape, size and density, with eleven grades including AA, A and PB (peaberry). Coffee is sold through the internal market or the weekly Moshi Coffee Exchange auction.

History

Wikipedia says coffee reached the Tanzanian region from Ethiopia in the 16th century, when the Haya of Kagera chewed boiled robusta beans as a stimulant. German colonists mandated arabica planting around Bukoba in 1911 and introduced it near Kilimanjaro and Tanga, and the Kilimanjaro Native Planters' Association, the first coffee cooperative, formed in 1925. After independence the state expanded cooperatives and estates, unions were dissolved in 1977, and reforms in the early 1990s privatized the industry. The Tanzania Coffee Research Institute was founded in 2000.