Why coffee you ask? Several years ago, I read an article about the growing number of people roasting coffee at home. Since my baking hobby had started shrinking my pants, I found the idea of roasting coffee interesting. After all, I have always loved coffee, and many of my fondest memories and deepest thoughts have been shared with family and friends over a steaming cup of coffee. So, I took an introduction to home roasting class, and I was immediately hooked! My new hobby quickly became an obsession. I found myself spending hours reading and learning about the different varieties of coffee plants, the regions where they grow, and the people that passionately plant, nurture, and harvest these plants. I realized that coffee for them was not just a vocation, but a way of life that is deeply imbedded in their culture, economy, and society. Whether it be a large finca in Guatemala or the tiniest micro lot farmer in Ethiopia, they all share the same life-long pursuit of growing the perfect beans that will ultimately become the perfect cup of coffee. And, from that coffee plant, the farmers have grown families, communities, churches, schools, health care clinics, as well as saving our rainforests. I ask you, “can coffee save the world?” Perhaps! It certainly has changed mine for the better!
-Kirstie
My mission is simple. It is to bring to my community premium specialty grade coffees from around the world. My promise to you is to always source beans that are responsibly grown and harvested. I promise to take great pride and care into roasting every batch. I promise to continue to learn and grow as a nano roaster so that I can roast the best darn coffee you have ever tasted!
Coffee arrived in Tanzania from Ethiopia in the 16th century. Originally, the Haya tribe in Tanzania would take the ripened coffee cherries and boil their skins with various herbs until macerated, and then smoked the mixture until it became something akin to coffee cherry jerky, which they would then chew on. They called the coffee concoction “amwani”. At first, coffee wasn’t meant for daily consumption. The people of the Haya tribe restricted its use for cultural, primarily religious, rituals, in which primarily high-ranking officials and royals were allowed to consume amwani, and it was tightly controlled who could grow the crop.
Coffee became a cash crop in Tanzania in the 20th century under German colonial rule, in which the colonists mandated coffee trees be planted in every region in 1911, and soon after coffee became a major exported crop and indelibly linked to Tanzania. After World War I, the British took over the country and quickly planted over ten million seedlings throughout Tanzania, and eventually created the first cooperative in the country by 1925, called the Kilimanjaro Native Planters’ Association (KNPA).
After Tanzania’s independence in 1961, the government made quick work to develop the infrastructure and help grow the coffee industry into the burgeoning success that it is today. Despite occasional setbacks, like the coffee wilt disease spreading through the crops in the 1990s, and various economic troubles of the country, coffee has persisted to become one of the most important crops of Tanzania, and that is no more apparent than in Tanzania Peaberry coffee that Tanzania is known the world over.
Although they are referred to as beans, the coffee that we know and love is in fact a seed. Normally, the seeds inside coffee cherries develop two flat surfaced sides. In approximately 4-6% of the world’s coffee production, only a single seed grows inside the coffee cherry. These are what we refer to as peaberries. Peaberry beans are smaller than their twin cousins and as a result, they tend to be sweeter and more flavorful. After all, they don’t have to share any of their flavor-building resources with a sibling. And because of its sophisticated flavor profile, coffee that’s made from peaberry beans is cherished by coffee connoisseurs around the world and arguably considered the very best available.
If coffee farmers knew how to grow peaberry coffee beans, they would be more readily available. But there is simply no way to tell whether a cherry has two beans inside of it or one unless it’s hand-sorted after picking and processing. All too often, any peaberry beans that are in a harvest get picked, processed, and sold for roasting right alongside their standard counterparts. This is a shame because this means the world is missing out on the best coffee the planet likely has to offer. But some growers have more patience and foresight because they understand the potential this premium bean has to offer. These growers hand-sort their beans to separate the peaberry beans from the mass of standard beans. Because of the rarity of peaberry beans, the amount of labor that goes into harvesting them, and the impeccable and complex flavor profile they offer, growers can then sell them at a premium.
The reason why Tanzania Peaberry coffees are so well-known and taste so good is because they grow 1,050 to 2,500 meters above sea level in soil that provides essential nutrients that seep into the coffee beans and lend exotic flavors to Tanzania Peaberries that have made this particular coffee synonymous with great peaberry coffee. Despite peaberries growing in almost every single region that coffee is grown in all over the world, Tanzania Peaberry coffee has won the distinction of having some of the best peaberry coffee around due to the country’s ideal climate, centuries long traditions of coffee production, and great infrastructure that continues to help support and develop coffee producers to create some great coffee.
Some say that you’ve never really had a cup of coffee until you’ve had a cup of peaberry coffee. Unlike coffee made from standard beans, peaberry coffee is smooth, rich, and bold with less acid. It contains flavor compounds that are unique to the region where the beans were grown and harvested.
Patrocinio Fazenda Paraiso
Rustic dark chocolate accented by notes of vanilla wafer cookie, puffed rice cereal, with a pleasant bittering aftertaste of dark cocoa powder.
Inzá Rio Páez
A pleasantly bittersweet coffee with mild fruit accents along with notes of molasses, caramel, raisin, tamarind, and a winey apple note.
Cerro Alto La Union
Dark cocoa and caramel, mild acidity, and hints of tea, woody whole spices, and marbled chocolate cake.
Finca San Miguel Bourbon
Caramel-toned and creamy with notes of Dulce de Leche, hazelnut chocolate, vanilla bean, chocolate-covered almond, and dark cocoa.
Dry Process Suke Quto
Tasting notes of strawberry, ripe blueberry, dried stone fruits, and tangy tamarind with fragrances of Chai tea, cinnamon, and fresh rue herb.
Nyeri Ichamama Peaberry
Tastes of juicy fruits, like plum, grape, and even a hint of tropical fruit punch with cocoa bittering makes as it cools. Aromatics of molasses and burnt sugar.
Premium Naga
Sweet and nutty tastes mixing with a semi-roasty chocolate factor along with tones of burnt sugar and roasted caramel.
Mexico Altura Chiapas/Oaxaca
A very chocolaty cup of coffee, fuller bodied with low acidity, with some nutty & herbal accents
Carpenter Estates - Sigri- Kula Peaberry
A silky smooth coffee that is clean tasting, fuller bodied, and has a creamy mouthfeel. It is a lower acidity chocolaty cup with a sweet edge with some cool nutty and herbal/spice accents.
Huabal San Pablo
Balanced flavors, layered profiles of brown sugar, torrone, butter pecan, and honey. Darker roasts pull out deep chocolate tones, satiny body, with hints of clove, and saffron.
Rwanda Nyamasheke Gitwe
Caramel sweetness accented by aromatic spices, with dried apple and orange notes. Dark roasts pull out cinnamon-laced dark chocolate.
Lintong Batak
A full-bodied coffee with earthy and foresty notes of cedar, sweet tobacco, black pepper, spice, and citrus.
Peaberry - Mbozi District - Songwe
Sweet brown sugar, honey aroma, juicy smooth medium to full body, clean sweet fruity lingering aftertaste, exotic well balanced intense flavor and crisp bright tangy winey acidity with black tea, citrus, orange and blueberry notes.
One Traditional Cacao
Notes of apricot, caramel, and chocolate.