Malawi

Malawi is a country in southeastern Africa. Coffee was brought to the region in the 1800s by missionaries and planted mostly in the southern regions, which is still the case today. What started as mainly a small-holder system, is now split between small farmers selling their coffee to cooperatives, and a few larger estates who process their own coffee, as well as buy from local farmers. Sable Farms is one such estate, and one of the larger exporters of coffee in the country. Elevation in the country is much lower than neighboring Tanzania, and lower elevation (800 - 1200 meters) means the coffee is more susceptible to diseases like "La Roya", and you see disease resistant strains like Catimor planted alongside Caturra and Catuaí trees. We have not visited this farm, but from what we understand, they have a nice, modern system, with drip irrigation on the farm, covered drying patios, and eco water filtering systems in place in order to re-use the water used to process the coffee. We tasted a large bean (AA/AAA) offer from the farm, as well as this peaberry, and settled on the latter as we found it to be a sweeter cup at a wider roast range, which also helps to tone down the herbaceous cup qualities that are inherent to Catimor cultivars.