Tanzania Ngila Estate Karibu Espresso
Tanzania Ngila Estate Karibu Espresso
I am a big Vera fan! Vera is a quietly assured lovely human being. During Covid I discovered her coffee and alongside other Tanzanian producers, of the Ngorongoro crater, some of whom were pushing the envelope of unusual processing and moisture content. Ngila Estate was this coffee that (to me) sang a song of terroir. No gimmicks, just great levels of soft, sweetness and fruit.
You have to love what great Tanzanian coffee does in the cup. Unlike other East African coffees, it is a softer and gentler way to start the day. Lower acidity and a more genteel cup.
We may be seeing more of Vera’s coffee across the UK over the coming years. This will be a great outcome for her and the whole Ngila project.
Top Trumps
Farm: Ngila Estate.
Area: Arusha Northern Tanzania
Process: Fully washed (and shade-grown)
Varietal: Kent
Altitude: 1560-1640 Meters above sea level
Roast: Espresso Roast. Not quite as developed as Simply Brazil or Formula 6, but not far behind.
Cup Potential
This was one of the easiest coffees to set up this year. Without slowing anything down tasty shots flowed from the very early 20 seconds…
Shot recipe, 3 days from roast: 17-17.5g of coffee into 35g of espresso 24 seconds and beyond.
9oz Milk-based drink, this is a rich mixture of malt, soft Autumnal fruit and cocoa.
5-6oz Rich dark red fruit, cocoa.
Espresso recipe: 16-17g of coffee into 45+g of espresso, extracted in 25 secs ish around 93/4C as a rough guide. Always taste it as you are dialling in, you might find something new that you like.
For me, the espresso has a light body, sweet soft acidity (think blackberry) and a linger of brown sugar, cocoa, and citrus. When fresh this is a tiny bit toasty, but that will fade over the next few days. Although completely biased, I am a huge fan.
Farm Stuff
The Ngila Estate is based on the slopes of the Ngorongoro crater and they have been growing coffee for over 100 years. There is a set aside of 80 hectares of preserved rainforest that reaches 1800 meters above sea level. And Ngila is certified by the Rainforest Alliance and uses natural insecticides, like Neem extract, and mineral fertilisers.
Ngila determines the trees that they are going to pick using a Brix meter, picking is selective and sorting is very intensive. Many of the workforce at Ngila are migrants. For some, it is a break from stone crushing, which is another local manual labour.
Tanzania has a growing population of over 60 million people. The population has grown by a million a year for the last 50 years. Yes, that is a population growth of 5 fold in 50 years.
Want to keep up to date? You can follow Ngila estate on Instagram here
or share your thoughts and brews here
