Send your morning soaring into the stratosphere. Tanzania ROCKET SUMMER from Dark Arts Coffee is like the first true summer day in a cup. It offers the juicy tartness of rhubarb, the fresh fruitiness of red currants, and a sweet aftertaste of buttery cookies that nicely rounds out the entire flavor experience. It’s light, playful, and refreshing, ideal for leisurely summer breakfasts and those afternoon moments when you need a little energy and a boost of good cheer. It shines as a pour-over or cold brew, pleasantly invigorating you on a hot day. One sip and you’re in orbit with summer bliss.
The Iyenga Coffee Growers Cooperative, which grew these beans, was founded in 2003. Today it has 191 members and operates in the fertile Songwe region of Tanzania. Local farmers traditionally use a sustainable intercropping system, in which coffee trees grow alongside food crops such as bananas and beans to maintain soil fertility. Thanks to a strategic partnership with Taylor Winch Tanzania, the cooperative has modernized its infrastructure with an eco-friendly pulper and wet mill, thereby improving its quality control standards. This combination of traditional farming and modern processing allows the cooperative to consistently produce high-quality Arabica for the international market. The resulting beans reflect the region’s unique terroir while ensuring that the farming community remains economically resilient through diversified agriculture.
The washed processingmethod involves first mechanically removing the pulp from the coffee cherries after harvest, followed by a brief fermentation of the beans in water to naturally break down the remaining sweet layer surrounding the bean. The coffee is then thoroughly washed with clean water and, still in its parchment skin, dried in the sun on drying beds or terraces until it reaches the ideal moisture content. This processing method typically highlights the clarity of flavors and a bright, fresh fruitiness in the cup.