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by Geoff Watts
July 3, 2008 |
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Location: Oldeani / Arusha
Altitude: 1700-1800 meters
Varietals: Bourbon, Kent, SL-28, Tacri
Harvest Time: July - November
Description
Flavor: Jasmine, currant
Acidity: Citric, winy
Finish: Gentle, wild honey
Tasting Notes
A most suitable arrival for the sunshine of
summer, the citron acidity of the Edelweiss Finagro Estate shines and
invigorates the palate. Jasmine and currant glisten while notes of refined
sugar deliver dimension to the syrupy body. The presence of winy-ness
gracefully melts into a finish of wild honey. Summer is finally here.
Geoff Watts' Notes
Tanzania has long been growing coffee in the
shadows of more familiar African nations like Kenya and Ethiopia. In
recent years its neighbor to the north (Rwanda) pulled off an astonishing
climb up the Specialty ladder and has made a compelling bid for the
attention of quality coffee drinkers worldwide. Don’t think coffee farmers
in Tanzania haven’t noticed. But what are they doing about it?
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A washing channel at the Finagro Mill in
Tanzania. |
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Before we look into that, I’d like first to share
a little history. Growing coffee as a cash crop first got started in
earnest during the colonial period. In the late 1800’s the region was
controlled by Germany. German settlers established estates and planted
coffee throughout the early part of the 20th century. After WWI the League
of Nations transferred administrative rights to the area (called
Tanganyika) to the United Kingdom. Finally in 1961 the country gained
independence and merged with Zanzibar in 1964 to become the nation of
Tanzania.
When the British took over in 1920, coffee planting really took off and
coffee exporting became a big deal. Then in 1973 the new government
instituted a massive land reform policy in the Kilimanjaro area that
transferred ownership of the coffee estates to local societies. It didn’t
work out very well, though, as most of the farms fell quickly into
disrepair. Production fell apart, and many of the farms were abandoned
altogether by 1980.
Today it is back on the rise. There is still a bit too much state
involvement perhaps, but the coffee industry has begun to liberalize. A
few artifacts remain and the complicated tax system and the stifling
bureaucracy of the national coffee board have not yet been fully resolved,
but signs of progress are there.
I first got involved in Tanzania about 3 years ago when I visited to
attend a coffee conference. It was there that I met a young pair of
siblings who had recently made a major life change…after growing up in
Kenya and studying abroad in the UK, they returned to Africa with the idea
that they’d breath life into a farm that had been in the family since the
70’s but which hadn’t been given a lot of love lately. The meeting was
fortuitous. We became friends quickly, and ever since have been
collaborating to work on sorting out the quality puzzle.
The “farm” is actually a collection of farms: Edelweiss, Ascona, and
Helgoland border each other along the outer ridge of the Ngorongoro
Crater. Having moved from German to British ownership in the early part of
the century, the farms were purchased by an American multinational that
merged all the farms in the area. But by 1970 they had gone bankrupt, and
the banks put the farms up for auction. They were purchased in 1971 by the
late B.N. Vohora and are currently being managed by his grandson Neel and
granddaughter Kavita.
Over the last few years there have been massive improvements. It is a
testament to the efforts of Neel and Kavita that the quality of the
coffees has been getting steadily better as a result of renewed investment
in the farm infrastructure. They’ve installed a shaded drying area and
have been experimenting lately with drying times and methodology to try to
get the formula right. They’ve reinvested in the staff at the farms, added
new pulping equipment, rebuilt their cupping lab, established protocols
for keeping coffee lots separated until they can be evaluated for quality,
planted new shade trees, added new varieties...the list goes on. And it is
just the beginning, really. A lot has been done, but success will depend
on what happens over the next five to ten years. Recently macadamia was
planted as well in order to diversify income. Water resources are scarce
and rising fuel prices are getting everyone worried, so Neel and Kavita
have been working to design an efficient system for drip irrigation and
have been purchasing manure from a local Masai community to use as
fertilizer and reduce reliance on synthetic inputs.
There are of course still plenty of challenges ahead. They’ve got to make
the quality formula work on a larger scale if they are to succeed. Drought
is still an ever-present threat. The politics within the domestic coffee
industry still cry out for reform. And then there are the elephants…these
are the only farms I’ve been to in the world where the biggest source of
worry is not fungus or insect damage but invasion during the night by
marauding herds of elephants, buffalo, and even lions! They pass through
from time to time looking for water, and elephants will actually locate
underground pipes and dig them up with their tusks. When they walk through
the farm they trample everything in their path, leaving a big swath of
razed land. Amazing. And you thought rabbits in your garden were
destructive.
I will leave the last word to Neel: “We met Geoff at EAFCA conference in
Arusha, Tanzania. Geoff approached us with the opening gambit, ‘apparently
I need to talk to you.’ He expressed a great interest in our micro-lot
project, which was something that he had successfully assisted in setting
up in Colombia. The next day Geoff traveled to the farms with us and from
then on we have communicated extensively in the interest of improving our
qualities to match Intelligentsia’s commitment to high quality. Three
years after our first meeting we made our first sale and are looking
forward to a long relationship with Geoff and Intelligentsia.” |
