Arusha (Karatu and Mount Meru)

Arusha is one of northern Tanzania’s coffee regions. Its coffee grows on the slopes of Mount Meru and on estates around Karatu and Oldeani, on the slopes of the Ngorongoro caldera. It is a small region by volume, but its washed coffees have scored as high as 95 with Coffee Review.

The short version

• Northern Tanzania: Mount Meru, Karatu and Oldeani.
• About 1,600–1,850 metres on the Oldeani estates.
• Red currant, chocolate and citrus: up to 95 points with Coffee Review.
• 1,727 tonnes exported in 2020/21.
• Picked July to December.

What does Arusha coffee taste like?

Bright, berry-led and chocolatey. Coffee Review’s blind assessments of coffees from the region:

Year	Coffee	Score	Notes
2007	AA Mt. Meru	90	Black currant, light red wine; soft acidity, delicate body
2019	Ngorongoro Ridge Peaberry (Bourbon)	95	Red currant, dark chocolate, tangerine zest, hop flowers, sandalwood; vibrant, juicy acidity
2020	AA Karatu Estate	93	Tamarind, freesia, candy cap mushroom, cedar, agave syrup
2024	Karatu Acacia Hills Geisha AB, as espresso	94	Black cherry, tamarind, lemon-thyme, cedar, magnolia

Source: Coffee Review. All were washed. The Ngorongoro Ridge peaberry was No. 5 on Coffee Review’s list of the top 30 coffees of 2019; a peaberry is a single, rounded bean that grows alone in the cherry.

Where and how is it grown?

Two areas stand out:

Area	Detail	Source
Mount Meru	The next mountain south from Kilimanjaro, near the Kenyan border; coffee from here is often sold under the name of the main town, Arusha	Coffee Review
Oldeani, Karatu District	Edelweiss, a 600-acre family estate on the slopes of the Ngorongoro caldera, at 1,600–1,850 m; in the Vohora family since the end of the Second World War	Royal Coffee
Karatu	Estates such as Acacia Hills, which grows Geisha	Coffee Review

Arusha belongs to the research zone of the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute’s Lyamungu station, on Kilimanjaro, which covers Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Manyara and Tanga. In that northern zone, about 180,000 farmers grow coffee on 0.5 to 2 acres each, TaCRI says. The Coffee Board’s harvest calendar for the north runs from July to December, and the northern auctions open on 1 July, USDA reports.

How much coffee does Arusha grow?

Measure	Figure	Source
Exports, 2020/21	1,727 t, fifth of the regions listed	Tanzania Coffee Board, via Food Business MEA
Standing, 2025/26	Among the leading arabica regions, with Ruvuma, Songwe, Mbeya and Kilimanjaro	Tanzania Coffee Board, via The Citizen

The Board has not published a newer regional figure. Nationally, Tanzania produced 76.47 million kg in 2025/26, up from 50.53 million kg the season before, the Board’s director general told The Citizen, and Ruvuma and Songwe alone grew 77.4% of the arabica.

Arusha and other Tanzanian origins

• Coffee in Tanzania: the whole country, its auctions and its harvest.
• Kilimanjaro: the other big name of the northern zone.
• Mbinga (Ruvuma): in Ruvuma, which with Songwe grows most of Tanzania’s arabica.