Coffee was first grown on the sides of Kilimanjaro in 1919, as a cash crop. The growers came together in 1932 to establish the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union Limited. This coffee comes from the Uru Cooperative Society and is exported under the name Yetu Tamu meaning ‘Our coffee is sweet’. The exporting Mambo Cooperative Society was founded in 2011 after they saw the price of speciality coffee rising but profits not being passed back to the farmers. The exporting Co-op now employs 3 agronomists to advise and assist the farmers as well as helping with the harvest. The trees are grown between 1700 – 2000 metres and harvested between July and October. The Bourbon and Kent cherries are hand-picked with repeated sweeps of the same plot occurring every couple of weeks. The beans are washed and milled by the export Co-op’s facility in Morogoro, where any defects are removed, and the Peaberries are graded out. This Peaberry coffee is scored 83.75 by the Specialist Coffee Association.
