Organic coffee produced in the Chimanimani National Park, in the province of Manica, has taken a significant leap forward by making its export debut to the UK market with the first 500 kilograms, hand-picked, bean by bean, in recent times.
“It’s a historic day,” announced Café Chimanimani, a project founded by former local journalists, pointing out that the production of this coffee in a protected area began just over three years ago.
“When we started this adventure of producing coffee in 2020, we couldn’t have imagined that so soon our product would be appreciated and sought after by a market as important and demanding as the UK. It’s a market where consumers are increasingly looking for specialty coffees. It’s not just coffee they’re looking for, but exceptional coffee,” said a company source.
In the misty highlands of the Chimanimani mountains, organic coffee is produced as part of an agro-forestry system that contributes to the reforestation of degraded and deforested areas of the reserve, protecting the soil, flora and fauna.
The company describes the moment as “historic”, as the first 500 kilograms of the 1,000 ordered in June 2023 by the British partner were exported, in accordance with the agreement signed in London at the time.
“The time it took is due to the difficulties we still face in processing and sorting the coffee; it’s still a manual process, but we hope to mechanize it soon. We would like to thank our employees who had the arduous task of sorting and classifying those 500 kilograms of coffee bean by bean for four long months,” the company explained.
Mozambique joined the International Coffee Organization (ICO) on the same occasion, last June, in London, in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Celso Correia.
