The Itumpi Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (Itumpi AMCOS) is located within the Mbozi District. Located about 70km from the Zambian border, about 1/3 of the households produce coffee, amongst other crops such as maize, peanuts and beans. The cooperative first formed in December of 1983, under the Tanzania Cooperative Act and combines produce from its 174 smallholder members from the villages surrounding farms.
Like many coffee cooperatives, Itumpi collects other grain crops such as maize. Farmers handpick the coffee cherries and proceed with a first sorting to remove unripe and overripe cherries, as well as foreign objects. After being delivered to the wet mill, where they go through a second sorting, cherries ferment in soak pits up to 72 hours before being dried on raised beds for an average of nine to twelve days.
In the recent years, the Itumpi cooperative has been following a new strategy to improve the quality of their coffee. They started some rehabilitation work on its wet mill facilities and they are also investing in training their farmers.
Tasting Notes: Juicy and light with a medium body. Black tea, with refreshing rosehip notes
Roast Level: Medium
Varietal: KP423 (Kent), N39 (Bourbon) - GRADE AA
Process: Fully washed and sun dried on beds
Altitude: 1600 - 1680 masl
This coffee has been given a SCA Score of 83.5