Isanya Estate, Zambia (Limited) – 250g (Copy)

GREEN APPLES, CARAMEL, CHERRY

Producing only 2,000 bags a year, this is a very small coffee producing country which we don’t even see it often in other countries much less in Singapore.

Zambia’s Northern Province is home to the country’s highlands, where ancient volcanic soils and natural processing help produce the complex flavor and heavy body of this AAA/AA graded coffee. Although wet milling was introduced to the small holder coffee farmers of Mafinga thirty years ago, natural processing has been common throughout the region since the 1950’s, when commercial coffee production began in Zambia.

Long before Dr. Livingston arrived to name Victoria Falls after the queen, the people who had lived around this wonder of the natural world for generations had already named it more appropriately, “the smoke that thunders.” The falls thunder into the Zambesi River, which flows east toward Mozambique. But before the river crosses the border, take a left and head north up the Luangwa River. You’ll move through land rich in biodiversity, including the world’s largest concentration of hippos. As the river meanders and the altitude rises you will reach Mafinga plateau and Zambia’s largest coffee growing region which stretches all the way to the border with Tanzania.

Isanya in the local language of the peaceful Luonga tribe means ‘great plane on a mountain’. This picturesque farm is located between lake Chila and Mount Nsunzu with a history reaching back to the early 20th century.

In the year 1918, a British pilot crashed on the estate and fell in love with the
nurse who saved his life in the local hospital. After marrying, the couple decided to start farming the fertile lands. Originally growing food crops for the local market, Isanya planted its first coffee in 1980 alongside maize and has gradually migrated to 100% coffee production.

Isanya has a unique place in world history as a place of peace. The last shot
of World War I was fired close to the estate and all weapons were destroyed
at lake Chila after the Germans surrendered to the British in 1918. This event is deeply rooted in the awareness of the local population and in 2018 the entire region  celebrated the 100th anniversary of this event with a big ceremony.