With Mambo Arusha Safari
to the coffee­plantation Moivaro.

4 km from our hostel is the Moivaro Coffee Plantation, which bears the name of the nice village community.

The plantation owners Erick and Lucas have been running their coffee Arabica Farm for 6 years and are one of many small cooperatives and local small farmers in Tanzania who produce coffee for their own consumption and tourism.

Her team also includes 5 students, who are taught not only in the field of coffee cultivation, but also in tourism and the environment.

Lucas and Erick explain on our 3 hour tour exactly how the process of coffee cultivation works. From the tree to the cup. Starting with the small coffee plant, through the process of picking and roasting the coffee. The time it takes for a coffee plant to be harvested for the first time is 2 years. The harvesting period in northern Tanzania lasts from July to December. Shortly before the trees stand in a wonderful white flowering splendour, which does not last long. A short time later, the first "cherries" form in the same place. The unripe coffee cherries are green to a rich red colour when the cherries are ripe for harvest. However, the cherries are not all ripe at the same time, so the harvest lasts the whole season. Harvesting too early or too late would reduce the quality of the coffee. It takes experience to recognize the actual ripe coffee cherries.

The coffee of Lucas and Erick belongs to the well-known Arabica variety, as well as 70% of the remaining coffee in Tanzania. This type of coffee grows particularly well in the highlands around the equator. Arabica coffee plants need the prerequisite of temperatures that remain as constant as possible without too large fluctuations of 18-25°C. At altitudes of 600 and 2100 m these conditions are very common, as well as at Moivaro Farm. The cultivation is very traditional and the harvest is done by the farmers picking the cherries by hand from the coffee bushes.

After the beans have dried and sieved out, the remaining parchment and silver skin is removed. The beans are put into a flat basket shell and whirled into the air. This allows the superfluous skin residues to be separated from the coffee beans. This leaves the pure bean, which is now ready for roasting. This happens on an open fire and is roasted in a saucepan while stirring constantly. A wonderful aroma of fresh coffee is already spreading.

After roasting, the beans are crushed in a mortar until fine coffee powder is obtained. This is then also boiled on an open fire in water. The strength of the coffee can be determined by the length of cooking. Finally, you can enjoy your first cup of pure Tanzanian coffee.

If you feel like a little exercise after the coffee tour, you can also book a yoga course with Lucas. The Yoga Studio is a short walk away and is the perfect place to relax and review the experiences of the day.