MALAWI, Pamwamba Cooperative, AA Plus

Malawi Pamwamba comes from the Mpanga and Ngapani estates. Established in 1988, after lands were transferred from a government company back into private hands, they are both Rainforest Alliance certified. The red soil is deep and fertile and runs into well drained sandy loam and clay. A tree-planting program continues to add lines of indigenous trees between coffee plots — including African Red Mahogany, also known as the Khyana Nyasica and around 500 hectares of Macadamia trees.

The coffees are fully washed and naturally sun dried and mature cherries are picked by hand, starting in late May. The harvested cherry is pulped at the estates’ wet mill and sun dried until the optimum moisture content is reached. The pulpery recycles its water during the primary pulping process, and the waste water is processed through filtration tanks before being released. Environmentally friendly spraying for bugs is done on an as-needed basis and in targeted ways that leave very little runoff. A mature-tree pruning program stumps plants after eight or nine years, to make them increasingly productive.  And an in-field trenching program turns leaf litter and pruning matter into compost that contributes to soil nutrition and helps to prevent soil runoff.

Find out a bit more about this coffee. Check out our blog post.

Tasting notes: Citric but unobtrusive acidity and a smooth body with floral, tropical stone fruit notes
Roast level: Medium
Varietal: Catimor 129, SL28
Process: Washed