Zambia AAA RFA 'Mafinga Hills' (2019 Crop)

This is a AAA grade, Rainforest Alliance certified, Fully Washed coffee from 5 exclusive Olam estates in the northern highlands of Zambia.

THE PROCESS

Harvesting is done selectively and 100% by hand when cherries are at the peak of their maturity. The harvested cherries are then handpicked to remove any under/over-ripes or defects and are then pulped within 5 hours of harvest. The coffee is fermented to break down the remaining fruity mucilage and then washed in clean grading channels before prior to sun-drying until the optimum moisture content is reached (around 12%).

THE REGION

The Northern province of Zambia shares its borders with Tanzania to the East and D.R. Congo to the North. It also occupies the southern shore of Lake Tanganyika - the world’s longest fresh-water lake, and the largest in Africa by volume. 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 2,300masl). The local economy is dominated by agriculture with coffee being a primary cash crop alongside subsistence crops such as maize, millet, groundnuts and beans. The mountainous terrain and lack of transport infrastructure makes this region challenging to work in, but also one most in need of the investment and development which the coffee industry can bring.

Ancient volcanic soils help produce the complex flavor profile of this coffee. It is an exploration worthy of the country that is home to the 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.” The falls thunder into the Zambesi River, which flows east toward Mozambique. But before the river crosses the border, take a left and head north up the Luangwa River. You’ll move through land rich in biodiversity, including the world’s largest concentration of hippos. As the river meanders and the altitude rises you will reach Mafinga plateau and Zambia’s largest coffee growing region which stretches all the way to the border with Tanzania.