Mozambique is not typically associated with coffee production, as the country has historically contributed only minimal quantities. Years of conflict and severe weather conditions have further hindered its agricultural growth.
However, there are emerging signs of recovery within Mozambique’s coffee industry. In addition to small-scale farming of the rare Coffea racemosa species, significant investments have been made in Gorongosa National Park to support local farmers.
To gain insight into these developments, I interviewed representatives from Cultivar Coffee and Our Gorongosa, two organizations working to rejuvenate Mozambique’s coffee sector. Here’s what they shared with me.
The Legacy of Coffee Cultivation in Mozambique
Coffee has never played a central role in Mozambique’s economy. It is believed that Portuguese colonists introduced coffee cultivation on a small scale when they first arrived. However, over time, colonial authorities shifted focus to Angola for large-scale coffee production, particularly robusta, which thrived there until the early 1970s. In Mozambique, tea became the agricultural priority.
Following Mozambique’s independence in 1975, the agricultural sector grew more complicated. A civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992 further impacted production, and by the late 1980s, coffee output had dwindled to around 1,000 metric tonnes annually.
Since then, Mozambique’s coffee production has experienced a gradual decline. In 2019, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the country produced only 827 tonnes of coffee. Several factors contribute to this, including ongoing conflicts in the north, which have displaced over 700,000 people in the past four years, according to the UN.
Additionally, natural disasters have exacerbated these challenges. In early 2021, Tropical Cyclone Eloise struck the same northern regions, damaging vast areas of farmland and affecting more than 300,000 people. Two years earlier, Cyclone Kenneth had devastated 90% of homes on Ibo Island, one of the few places where Coffea racemosa is grown.
Revitalizing Coffee Production in Mozambique Today
In 2018, Mozambique earned approximately US $63,000 from exporting just a few hundred tonnes of coffee, with key destinations including Belgium, Luxembourg, and South Africa.
Today, the heart of Mozambican coffee production lies within Gorongosa National Park, where coffee is cultivated in a 600,000-hectare buffer zone along the slopes of Mount Gorongosa. Quentin Haarhoff, who has over 16 years of experience working with coffee farmers across central and southern Africa, now serves as the Coffee Manager at Gorongosa National Park. Under the Our Gorongosa brand, the park has become a central player in the country’s coffee revival.
Mozambique: Our Gorongosa, launched in 2019, aims to drive sustainable development within the park by using coffee as a tool to generate income. Quentin recalls that when he first arrived in 2007, the local farmers had yet to produce a single bag of coffee. Now, the project involves over 600 farmers, working to cultivate arabica coffee under shade trees in agroforestry systems. This approach not only helps regenerate the rainforest but also provides sustainable livelihoods for local communities.
One of the key practices in Gorongosa is planting native trees among the coffee crops, supported by consistent rainfall that ensures proper irrigation. The coffee produced is entirely organic, with waste from the plants being composted and reused as natural fertilizer.
Mozambique: Currently, around 200 hectares of farmland are under coffee cultivation, producing high-quality beans that score between 82 and 83 points. The goal is to plant an additional 100 hectares each year over the next eight years, with the aim of reaching 1,000 hectares by the late 2020s.
All coffee processing, sorting, and grading are carried out within the park, with a portion of the beans roasted on-site for the local market. The majority, however, is exported to roasters in the UK and USA, who pay a premium for the coffee’s quality. Gorongosa coffee has also caught the attention of international brands; in early 2020, Nespresso joined forces with the project as part of its Reviving Origins program.
Why Choose Gorongosa National Park for Coffee Cultivation?
Quentin explains that Gorongosa is one of the few regions in Mozambique with ideal conditions for growing arabica coffee, thanks to its suitable rainfall, temperature, and altitude. These favorable factors also allow farmers to cultivate a variety of other crops, such as bananas, pineapples, and piri-piri chilies, which not only support local food production but also offer financial stability through diversification.
Coffee farming in Gorongosa goes beyond agriculture—it creates employment opportunities while promoting forest conservation and regeneration. However, Quentin points out that farming in Gorongosa presents significant challenges.
“It’s incredibly remote, difficult to access, and tough to operate in,” he says. “On top of that, the region has been emerging from conflict. But Mozambique has this amazing national park where coffee cultivation is intertwined with forest health.”
Gorongosa coffee is sold in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with much of the revenue reinvested into the national park to fund education, community support, and biodiversity preservation. This financial support is crucial, as nearly 30% of the rainforest has been lost to civil war and subsistence farming over the past 15 years.
Coffea Racemosa: A Unique Coffee Species
In addition to arabica coffee, Gorongosa is home to a rare indigenous species known as Coffea racemosa. This unique coffee plant is so limited in distribution that it only grows naturally within a 150 km² stretch of indigenous forest extending from northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa to southern Mozambique.
Cultivar Coffee highlights that racemosa is exceptionally resilient to drought, capable of surviving for up to nine months without water. It thrives in sandy soils and is naturally resistant to most pests, but it is classified as an endangered species in South Africa.
The plant itself is an open-branched shrub that can grow up to 3.5 meters (approximately 11.5 feet) tall. Its flowers, which are either white or pinkish, bloom in September, producing round cherries that turn dark purple or black when ripe.
Interestingly, the beans from Coffea racemosa are about one-third the size of typical arabica beans and contain half the caffeine of arabica and a quarter of that found in robusta. This lower caffeine content offers market potential for consumers who are sensitive to caffeine.
Recently, racemosa has been hybridized with arabica to produce a new variety known as Aramosa. This hybrid has garnered attention among specialty coffee enthusiasts, with several award-winning lots roasted by The Barn in Berlin.
Charles Denison from Cultivar has dedicated years to working with this slow-growing coffee species and is a qualified Q grader. He first learned about racemosa from a woman in Mozambique who grew and roasted it using a modified washing machine. Intrigued, Charles and his team acquired as many seeds as possible from her.
At that time, she was only cultivating about 2,000 trees as part of a backyard project. Although the project remains in experimental stages, Charles reports they now have nearly 3,000 seedlings, with around 2,000 housed in nurseries. However, there is still uncertainty about what a fully mature racemosa tree “should” look like, although its hardiness is well established.
The Cultivar team is committed to demonstrating the viability of these trees and their coffee. Once they confirm this, Charles hopes to connect with buyers to raise awareness and expand the market for racemosa coffee.
The flavor profile of racemosa is still largely unexplored; it wasn’t officially cupped until 2020 when Paradise Roasters in Minneapolis sampled Cultivar’s racemosa, describing the medium-light roast as “richly bittersweet” and “deep-toned,” with notes of “hop flowers, pink peppercorn, tangerine zest, quince, [and] fresh-cut fir.”
Other online distributors characterize racemosa’s flavor as light, refreshing, and slightly smoky, featuring tasting notes of raw cacao, liquorice, and a distinctive earthy quality.
Despite its challenges, Mozambique stands out as a distinctive coffee origin. With the emergence of coffee production in Gorongosa and the cultivation of the rare racemosa species, there are numerous intriguing developments worth watching.
Should the markets for racemosa or Gorongosa arabica expand, it could open up new opportunities for Mozambican farming communities that have historically depended on subsistence agriculture.
Quentin emphasizes, “Anything that can support these farmers and create more opportunities is beneficial. We find ourselves in a unique situation in a little-known part of Africa, particularly within the coffee industry.