Mount Kilimanjaro stands on featureless part of the East African plateau, on the Tanzanian side of the Kenya border near Moshi, side by side with the smaller Mount Meru.
Arusha is an Arabica coffee. It is primarily grown in Papua New Guinea and at Mount Meru Tanzania. Despite its proximity to the equator, the town of Arusha’s elevation, of 1,400 m on the southern slopes of Mount Meru Tanzania, keeps temperatures relatively low and alleviates humidity. Cool dry air is prevalent for much of the year. The temperature ranges between 13 and 30 degrees Celsius with an average around 25 degrees. It has distinct wet and dry seasons, and experiences an eastern prevailing wind from the Indian Ocean, a couple of hundred miles east. Almost within the entire city; if you go north you will be going up hill, and going south is always down hill. The town was founded by German colonialists when the territory was part of German East Africa in 1900. A garrison town, it was named after the local tribe Wa-Arusha, who are known as Larusa by the Maasai.
The Arusha coffee cultivar is derived from the Typica or French Mission varieties.Typica is basically the same variety of coffee the Dutch reportedly gave to King Louis back in the 17th century. Although, since then it has mutated slightly to reflect its surroundings i.e. Mexican Typica is genetically slightly different to Kona (Hawaiian Typica), and they take different names to reflect this: Criollo (South America), Arabigo (Americas), Kona (Hawaii), Pluma Hidalgo (Mexico), Garundang (Sumatra), San Bernado & San Ramon (Brazil), Kents & Chickumalgu (India). French Mission is actually Bourbon that was planted in East Africa by French Missionaries around 1897.
Coffee plantation - Arusha, Tanzania
Some of the coffee stock in PNG comes from varied origins such as Jamaica’s Blue Mountain Region and the Bourbon variety Arusha which gives PNG coffee its own unique character, which is different from that of the regions which surround it. PNG is the eastern half of the larger island of New Guinea located in the Pacific region just north of Australia.
Research
The Australian Coffee Research and Development Team named Arusha (amongst others) as a recommended cultivar for Northern New South Wales, Australia, having determined that for milder growing conditions (in comparison with Northern Queensland, Australia) that the taller cultivars have shown superior yield, quality and suitability for machine-harvesting. The Australian researchers found: ‘Arusha, one of the earliest maturing cultivars in New South Wales, is a high yielder of good-sized bean, but may encounter problems in harvesting if the wet season extends later than normal.’ The Arusha source of material was Nambour ex Papua New Guinea. Researchers cited ‘The semi-dwarf cultivars have not shown potential in northern Northern New South Wales because of slow growth, susceptibility to ant, scale and mealy bug infestation, and difficulty in harvesting the tight cherry clusters selectively. Yields and quality have been lower on these cultivars than the tall cultivars.’
Source
The Australian Coffee Research and Development Team, Backcountry Coffee Roasters
