Zambia Mafinga Hills

Zambia coffee is hard to find in the United States. It is prized for its juicy fruity notes, much like a Kenya, but is smoother and more full bodied than most Kenyan beans.

This one is from the Mafinga Hills in the Northern province, up against the Tanzania border. These are the highest peaks in the country. Zambia does not have a department of agriculture that certifies organic products, but the estates growing this coffee do use organic farming methods, and they have UTZ certification and RainForestAlliance certification. These are the peaberry beans from their harvest, although there are also small flat beans mixed in with it. 

The estates are meticulous about only picking the ripe coffee, and then processing it on site. You can roast it light like a Tanzania to coax out the most flavor, and you get some nice herbal and orange notes with some acidity. It's a weird coffee but not bad -- one that I'm excited to share with people and drink a couple pots of it, but maybe not something I would want to drink every day for a couple weeks straight. You can go to more of a dark roast as well, get it smoky and into rolling second cracks like a Sumatran roast, and the herbal notes don't go away, which makes it a distinct dark roast option.

While it's a nice coffee, it's a really nice espresso. Even at the lightest roasts, it comes out flavorful and complex without astringency or overly sour.

US Arrival November 2022