Green (unroasted) — Tanzania Peaberry

A peaberry is formed from the maturation of one seed per cherry rather than the usual two. The result is a round bean instead of the flat-sided pair, and it is denser, more uniform, and more concentrated. It is also a small fraction of any harvest, which is why it gets sorted out at milling and why a bag of it behaves a little differently from a bag of flat beans.

This peaberry comes from the southern highlands of Tanzania, in the Songwe Region, from small family-owned farms of just a few acres. It grows between 1,500 and 1,900 meters and is fully washed and dried on raised beds. Tanzania is not short on extremes — the country holds the lowest and highest elevations in Africa, from the floor of Lake Tanganyika at 352 meters below sea level to the summit of Kilimanjaro at 5,895 — and it holds a strong claim on the list of the world’s great coffee origins as well.

Processing is where this lot gets its structure. Fully washed and dried on raised beds is the East African standard, and it is why the cup is clean and tea-like rather than boozy. Cherry is pulped, fermented, washed, and dried on raised beds, which pulls the fruit character off the bean and leaves clarity behind. Centralized mills and consistent processing are what allow a country of small producers to deliver a repeatable cup lot after lot.

“The rounder peaberry is formed from the maturation of one seed per cherry rather than the typical two.”

Royal’s cup for this lot is cardamom, cedar, brown sugar, and black tea. The cardamom is the first thing you will notice — warm, aromatic, slightly sweet, and not a flavor most people expect from an African washed coffee. Cedar follows, woody and clean. Brown sugar gives the middle of the cup its weight, and black tea runs through the finish with a slight astringency that keeps the sweetness honest. It is a coffee that is more aromatic than it is loud.

The peaberry’s density has a practical effect in the roaster. A round bean takes heat more evenly than a flat one, and it has more mass to carry through first crack. The window is reasonably forgiving, but you want to land it just past first crack where the brown sugar develops without burying the cardamom.

We roast it medium. Light will give you the tea and the aromatics but leave the sugar undeveloped. Dark flattens the cardamom into caramel. Medium is where this coffee is designed to live.

Brew it on pour-over for clarity. A Chemex brings out the black tea, a V60 sharpens the cardamom. Batch brewing works well too. Avoid the French press — the sediment muddies the aromatics that are the whole point of this lot. 1:16 at 200°F, and drink it while the cardamom is still there.

We’ve been roasting coffee in Lakewood, Colorado under our neighborhood brand, Village Roaster, since 1979.

Buying green? The 2, 5 and 10 lb options are raw, unroasted coffee beans. They arrive as green coffee and cannot be brewed as they are. Roast them first, then brew.