Zambia AAA RFA 'Mafinga Hills' (2020 Crop)

Grape, gooseberry, melon, lime

Bag Weight	60 KG BAG
Harvest Season	2019/20
Status	Spot
Lot Number	P605613-1

Carteret, NJ: Out of Stock Bag(s)

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About This Coffee

The Mafinga Hills in Zambia’s Northern Province are home to the country’s highest peaks. As the slopes descend into foothills you'll find the Olam owned estates of Kateshi, Ngoli, and Luombe, which together produce our RFA coffees for our Mafinga Hills brand. Coffees from all three estates are milled at the Kateshi mill and blended to create this unique coffee from the home of smoke that thunders. Long before Dr. Livingston arrived to name Victoria Falls after the queen, the people who had lived around this wonder of the natural world for generations had already named it more appropriately, “the smoke that thunders.”

Country of Origin	Zambia
Harvest Season	2019/20
Coffee Grade	ZMB CA FW AAA
Bag Type	Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species	Arabica
Processing	Washed

Region	Mafinga Hills

History of Coffee in Zambia

The history of Zambian coffee seems familiar: men in Holy Orders of one sort or another arrive and plant seeds. But in the case of Zambia, missionaries did not introduce coffee farming until the 1950s. By the time commercial coffee production began in Zambia, the British had considerable experience in starting and operating coffee plantations in India, Kenya, and elsewhere. Planting coffee was an attempt to decrease a dependence on copper exports. Not surprisingly, the emphasis was on yield and production efficiencies. Plantations were large and orderly, grown in full sun on flat land, and processed in large wet mills wherever possible. Nevertheless Zambia made almost no appearance whatsoever on the world coffee stage until coffee was officially exported for the first time in 1985.

Growing Coffee in Zambia

The Northern province has the best conditions for arabica coffee cultivation in Zambia with its relative proximity to the equator and abundant altitude (Mafinga Hills being the highest point in the country at 2,300 masl). Most coffee grows from 1300 - 2300 masl. Zambia produces both washed and naturally processed coffee and has introduced some honey processing. A wide range of varieties including Catimor 129, Castillo, Java, and other trial varieties. Specialty grades are AAA, AA, AB and Peaberry.