Sparking New Life in Northern Tanzania

When Rebecca Trupin returned to her mother’s land in the Kilimanjaro region she wondered:,“What can I do for the region, and how can I do it while focusing on what’s best for groups rather than for individuals?” Slowly, yet steadily, she began working with farmers who not only had a real commitment to producing great quality coffee, but also sought democracy within their own organisations.

From our first import from Aranga in 2015 to today, Rebecca has had to go through many transformations. She learned how to manage complex farmer relationships, how to be the link between farmers and us from a distance, how to deal with complex Tanzanian bureaucracy, how to manage payment expectations and much much more. One of the main deceptions we faced every year was that we could not trust the large millers and we repeatedly received different quality coffees than the preshipment sample. After years of shopping around, Rebecca finally made the step to partner with Frank Mlay of the Tanzania Coffee Board and found her own export company: Wanza. This important step has allowed them to add more inspiring local farmer groups to their portfolio and help them achieve similar quality standards and prices as Aranga.

In Rebecca’s mother’s language, Swahili, “Wanza” means “to spark, to start life itself.” To us, this is exactly what Rebecca and her team have been doing since the very start of their work in Tanzania. In a region often forgotten by specialty coffee traders, we cannot overstate the importance of this work.

masista

hectares: 18
congregation members: 730
bags bought: 14

aranga AND MajIrani

hectares: 70
farmers: 67
bags bought: 47

MARANGU

hectares: 24
farmers: 35
bags bought: 27

amkeni

farmers: 60
bags bought: 120

This Side Up Value Chain:

CULTIVARS:

Arabica Bourbon (Jackson, Mbirizi) and Kent

ALTITUDE:

1,200 - 1,700 meters above sea level

NOTABLE:

One of the only independent export companies working solely with smallholder farmers in Tanzania. Rebecca and her team are poised to bring the level of production quality of local Tanzanians up to the standard of the large local estates.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

2019: Wanza was informally created and formed by Rebecca reaching out to Frank Mlay, the company’s local coffee expert.

2020: Wanza was formally registered as a business.

2021: Partnership with two new farmers groups, Masista and Amkeni, took place. Wanza also partnered with Progreso, making prepayment to farmers more fluid and quicker.

2022: Wanza completed the largest shipment ever. They also exported under their own export license for their first time! Shipment volume increased by almost four times.

The price you pay: €8,40/kg

AVAILABLE FROM wanza:

• Aranga AA/AB coop lot - fully washed

• Aranga PB coop lot - fully washed

• Majirani AB farmer group lot - fully washed

• Masista - Huruma Farmers Group - washed

• Marangu AB - Fully Washed

Recommended Ikawa profile:

We noticed in previous years that TSU Washed 1 wasn’t developing the beans as fully as possible so we tried Christopher Feran’s High Alt itude 1800m profile which gives fantastic results. We actually adapted our standard Washed profile to have a lower drop temperature (145 degrees Celsius) and a few more seconds total roast time so you can use both - they now develop acidities in these dense beans beyond citric into smooth malic flavours, allowing the chocolate body and layered sweetness to develop adequately. Cut the roast short if DTR exceeds 23%. 

CONTACT wanza

Wanza can be reached by email or by phone. Rebecca or Frank are also happy to have visitors to show around their coffee farms and host in their village, close to the city of Arusha and to numerous national parks. 

CONTACT  Rebecca Trupin / Frank Mlay Niwa’s

EMAIL  rebecca.trupin@gmail.com / wanzacoffee@gmail.com

TEL +1 (615) 200 9209 / +255 713 838 181

Aranga Coffee Group, Nkoaranga, Arumeru District, Arusha Region, Tanzania

The group whose vision spread

The Aranga Coffee Group is a testament to the initiative and determination of smallholder farmers. Ten founding members broke away from a mismanaged cooperative to find better markets and establish a more transparent and democratic governing system. The members – now 28 in number – are true artisans of their coffee and drink it themselves, which is a rarity for the East African region, outside of Ethiopia. Aranga members are subsistence farmers. Each family has 0.5 to 2 acres which they farm in the traditional local method of intercropping. Coffee trees are interspersed with banana trees, whose broad leaves provide sufficient shade from the equatorial sun.     

Aranga has a special place in our portfolio. Meeting Rebecca in 2014 and starting our import adventure the year after has taught us more about the difficulties of working with smallholder groups directly than any other relationship. Together we have invested in the coop's drying infrastructure, moisture measurement equipment, and harvesting process. Due to an increasingly open and trustful relationship and the support from a few key roaster partners, we have managed to bring this coffee to its full potential. Aranga now commands the highest prices of any locally run farm in the region and the word has spread - Majirani, which means “neighbours” in Swahili, is a new group of outgrower farmers that receive Aranga’s support and is the best testimony to the group’s success.

CULTIVARS:

Arabica Bourbon (Jackson, Mbirizi) and Kent

ALTITUDE:

1,500 - 1,700 meters above sea level

NOTABLE:

local organic certification (since 2016) by the Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (TOAM), shade-grown, farmer owned and farmer-run cooperative, actively seeks participation of women in coop activities. 

PROCESSING:

Double wet fermentation: Cherries are depulped using simple hand-pulpers and strictly washed the same day they are picked. They are then double wet-fermented (2x 18 hours), shade dried, and then sun dried on raised beds. This year, we are centralising these beds to achieve more uniform drying.

you are my sister

Aranga Coffee Group once told Rebeca about an independent non-profit in Tanzania, a financially self-reliant organisation called “Sisters of Our Lady Kilimanjaro” (the “Sisters”), a Roman Catholic congregation. Since its foundation in 1931, the sisters have run many educational and health programs. They began farming coffee in 1985 and have been employing their neighbors to help harvest and tend the coffee plants. Their coffee comes from two regions: the Moshi area and another near the Aranga Group, the Arusha region. At first, Rebecca approached them for consulting, but as soon as she realised their level of dedication, commitment, and ambition, another possibility came to mind. Although the sisters have put great effort and investment into their farm for many years, they could not find a reliable buyer willing to pay a reasonable price. This often meant a loss for them, given the high costs of inputs. Working with trustworthy parents has encouraged the sisters to increase their production from 10 to 100 acres in the coming years.

It’s great to see how their hard work has finally paid off! Here’s to this little convent and all the outstanding achievements!

CULTIVARS:

Arabica Bourbon (Jackson, Mbirizi) and Kent

ALTITUDE:

1,200 - 1,700 meters above sea level

NOTABLE:

Masista is a congregation of 730 nuns from the Roman Catholic Church. They own and operate the coffee farm and. harvest their coffee from two farms:

Tumami Farm: 16 hectares, 9407 coffee trees five permanent workers, and occasional hires for hard work. Some of the congregation members cannot do the heavy work because of age or sickness and therefore hire.

Huruma Farm: from which 15 people benefit and are members of the project. However, the 730 congregations member benefit directly or indirectly from coffee.

At Masisata they were able to downscale their production recently, mandating the price they deserve and managing quality.

PROCESSING:

fully washed and double fermentation: selective picking, pulping, meticulous fermentation, thoroughly washed, natural dry under tropical sun.

where seeds are spread

When Rebecca returned to her mother’s land in 2011 and started interviewing farmers in the Kilimanjaro area, she sought to listen to and understand their real needs, struggles, and challenges. In this area, her family had been growing coffee for generations. She understood most farmers struggled to stay afloat after the global coffee price plummeted in the 90s, and Rebecca was seeking ways to help farmers earn more through their coffee. She especially wanted to create long-term benefits for coffee growers by creating a solid network of small, democratic, and independent cooperatives, organisations, and individuals committed to growing the best coffee in the best possible way.

Rebeca and her team at Wanza quickly noticed that the community was eager to make a change, so the conversations gradually transformed into a community-led initiative to improve coffee quality and quantity and find buyers willing to pay better prices.

For us, it’s a true honour to be part of this initiative, working with the Wanza team and Marangu farmers to create small, solid, and fully democratic organisations in the area!

CULTIVARS:

Arabica Bourbon (Jackson, Mbirizi) and Kent

ALTITUDE:

1,400 - 1,800 meters above sea level

NOTABLE:

local organic certification (since 2016) by the Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (TOAM), shade-grown, farmer owned and farmer-run cooperative, actively seeks participation of women in coop activities.

PROCESSING:

Double wet fermentation: Cherries are depulped using simple hand-pulpers and strictly washed the same day they are picked. They are then double wet-fermented (2x 18 hours), shade dried, and then sun dried on raised beds.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

2017: first bags of Marangu imported, three in total. Contained sizeable amount of defects but nevertheless had great results in the cup.

2018-2020: no coffee from Marangu for This Side Up, the group organisation was not up to par and could not provide our coffee.

2021: Marangu coffee back on our menu, marketed for the first time by a buyer as coffee specifically from this group.

2022: Largest import of Marangu coffee ever.

TASTIFY™ CUPPING NOTES :

A community’s vision

In 1999, in Mwika, a small village on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, 150 farmers harvested and processed their own coffee at home and then brought the parchment to the group headquarters. Since their coffee was processed independently, they put extra care into unifying their processes as best as possible. This effort paid off, and in 2001, the group received the Certificate of Best Coffee from the Tanzania Coffee Association.

Aiming to find a way to unify and better control their quality, in 2001, they built the group’s first-ever CPU, which allowed them to upgrade their quality significantly. Today, the group continues to build dreams for the future, such as upgrading their CPU to renovate their office and equipment and opening a fund for members to help them afford agricultural inputs.

We are very proud to be on board with this group that, despite facing a diminishing in its members, manifests a continuous commitment and strong will to increase its quality and take its names’ group to the international market.

CULTIVARS:

Bourbon, Jackson Bourbon.

ALTITUDE:

1,725 meters above sea level

NOTABLE:

Several smallholder farmers came together to better control the quality of their product and commercialize it to the international market. Over time, they’ve proved to be very good businessman and committed coffee growers.

PROCESSING:

Cherries are brought to a central pulper where they are floated using raised channels, soaked over night and set out to dry on raised beds. The group runs a central washing station which uses a Penagos pulping machine.