Description
Region Oldeani · Karatu, Ngorongoro • Process Washed • Variety SL-28 •
Ngorongoro · SL-28 · Washed
Gaia Estate
QUALITIES: juicy acidity • deep chocolate • black-tea spice
RECOMMENDED ROAST: Light–Medium
CHAFF LEVEL: Medium
A single producer, single strain, specialty Tanzanian? That is almost like breaking the rules.
Flavor Profile
Sweet Orange / Lemon • Deep Chocolate
Black Tea Spice •Juicy Acidity
Bright, juicy citrus acidity over deep chocolate and cocoa, with a spicy black-tea note and a clean, praline-sweet finish.
Green Analysis
by Isabella Vitaliano (Royal Coffee)
For a single-cultivar lot the density is quite high at 705 g/L. Moisture content is in normal ranges, while water activity sits a little bit higher than normal. High density paired with a larger bean size is an interesting mix: coffees from East Africa are often small with higher densities, so a big, dense bean like this one stands out. Be sure to check the roasting notes below for how to get the most out of it.
Roasting Notes
These are big, dense beans higher density than most East African coffees so give them a robust, well-managed charge and steady energy to drive heat into the center and develop them evenly. Start at a medium roast and adjust from there: lighter for brightness, darker for a more robust chocolate character. On an air/fluid-bed machine, drop to smaller batch sizes and watch your airflow so the dense beans develop all the way through. A medium roast best highlights the juicy acidity and the spicy black-tea character while keeping the finish very clean; medium-dark deepens the cocoa and praline notes and softens the acidity. Give it a few extra days of rest after roasting and the sweetness integrates and smooths out, though the acidity is at its brightest right off the roaster. For everyday roasting: keep it on the light-to-medium side to celebrate the citrus and tea character.
Tasting / Roasting Snapshots
Light Roast
Vibrant juicy acidity — Sweet orange — Lemon — Black tea — Very clean finish
Medium Roast
Balanced — Deep chocolate/cocoa — Praline — Spicy black tea — Amaretto hint
Dark Roast
Fuller body — Intense cocoa/chocolate — Lower perceived acidity — Round praline sweetness
(Karatu · Ngorongoro Crater rim — Tanzania · 1,650–1,800 masl)
Gaia Estate
Gaia Estate spans 620 hectares in the Karatu District, sitting between 1,650 and 1,800 masl along the southern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater the largest unbroken caldera in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979. It has been in the Vohora family since 1971 and is farmed by siblings Neel and Kavita, third-generation Tanzanians whose family has run a coffee-export business in Arusha for more than 60 years. The estate is Rainforest Alliance certified; alongside coffee it diversifies into macadamia and honey, houses its harvest workers, and lends land to local smallholders growing nitrogen-fixing legumes. Of its 620 hectares, 260 are planted with coffee across roughly 50 microclimate- and variety-specific blocks.
SL-28
SL-28 is one of the most celebrated coffee varieties in East Africa, created and bred in Kenya by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s. It is originally what made Kenyan coffee famous. Although now-a-days, Kenya grows very little of it due to disease issues. Of Bourbon lineage, it is drought-tolerant and famed for an exceptional, structured cup with bright, syrupy acidity, classically leaning citrus and blackcurrant. It grows a notably large bean and is low-yielding and susceptible to the major coffee diseases, but its cup quality has made it a benchmark for the region. Grown here as a single cultivar on the mineral-rich volcanic soils of the Ngorongoro rim rather than blended into a regional lot it delivers the juicy citrus-over-chocolate profile, the unusual density, and the large bean size this lot is known for.
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