Coffee From Tanzania

Glen: Hi. Welcome back to Le Gourmet TV. We’re with Derek. And today, we’re going to stay in Africa, but we’re going to go to Tanzania. Derek: Yes we are. Glen: Tell us a little bit about the Tanzanian beans. Derek: Okay. You’re finding this one appear in a number of specialty markets. Because Tanzania, again like one of the Africans, this has a very unique flavor. It’s tough to describe this one. Often, you have a descriptor which makes it seem like it’s not that good. But what you’re trying to say is that it’s a really good flavor. You just don’t necessarily have the word to do it. And one of the things, if I sort of skip the main one that I’d often think about, but it would be more of sort of a little bit of a metallic taste to it. Often, you would find this in oysters. And now, there are products that are out there where it is something much sought after. You just haven’t quite fully placed it. What you would guess then is that in the soil, you would have that component that’s basically showing up in the coffee. So they’re going to be high in mineral content to the soil. This is also a unique because if you look inside, you’ll notice they’re all round. Glen: I was just about to mention that. They are very tiny and round. Derek: Yes. For a long time, the Kenyans and the Tanzanians have been marketing a single bean that comes out of the cherry known as a pea berry. And so normally, what you’re going to find is inside every coffee cherry growing on the tree, you’re removing it and you are getting two beans. The flat faces are together. Well, in the case of the pea berry, they are sorting what is a mutant which is about one out of every 3000 which is a pea berry, and they’ll put it all into one bag. And so, this is the legendary Tanzanian pea berry. The reason that we talk about the legend is that there is good folklore that goes with it, and that is that all the goodness that normally goes into two beans goes into one. Glen: So, it’s still an Arabica bean. Derek: It still an Arabica bean. Glen: It still comes from the same coffee tree. Derek: Yes. The same coffee tree. Glen: It’s just a naturally occurring… Derek: Single round bean. Glen: Well, what should we expect with this coffee. Derek: Well, if we are to stay on the light rose, again, you’re going to see the brightness that Africa really does offer. But I think that one of the things that you’re going to find is it has—sort of again, it’s still bright but has a unique sensation. We’re going to start to slip to the sides a little bit quicker. Glen: Okay. Derek: But then, what differentiates this one is more about the flavor. The other ones, you would describe as very sort of citrusy, there’s a nutty component. You often have African coffees as being winey. Well this one would lean a little bit more on that citrus side. Sort of a citrus mineral type flavor to the coffee. But the nice part about it is again, it has a sugar from the roasting process and you’re going to get the general sort of sweetness that comes. But, we wouldn’t really make the call on it until it’s in our cup. We take that for ourselves.