Why Are Coffee Farm Visits Still Niche in Tanzania?

Coffee tourism is developing quietly in Tanzania, where visitors fly to Arusha to walk through coffee farms, pick and grind beans by hand, and brew their own cup. Local guide Daniel Joachim turned his family farm in Tengeru into a destination and added regional dishes such as Ugali and nyama choma to the experience.

The Arusha circuit peaked around 2013 and still draws travelers from Europe, Japan, and the United States, yet only about ten of more than two hundred tourism companies there offer it, against competition from safaris and national parks. Joachim promotes Tanzania coffee trees online to stand apart from Ethiopia, where searches for coffee tourism once pointed exclusively.

In Tanzania, a model of agritourism that combines coffee cultivation with tourism experiences is quietly developing. Tourists fly from all over the world to this East African land, walk into the coffee forests of Arusha, pick and grind coffee beans with their own hands, and make a cup of coffee that belongs to them. Local guide Daniel Joachim turned his family farm into a coffee tourism destination and incorporated culinary experiences, trying to carve out a place for Tanzania in a coffee tourism market dominated by Ethiopia. Coffee tourism in Arusha once peaked in 2013 and still attracts tourists from Europe, Japan, and the United States. However, compared with safaris and national parks, coffee tourism has not yet become a mainstream tourism offering in the country—of more than two hundred tourism companies, only ten provide related services.

Agritourism refers to integrating agricultural production or processing with tourism, attracting tourists to farms, ranches, or other agricultural operations for leisure, entertainment, or learning experiences, while also bringing economic benefits to these places. In Tanzania, coffee tourism is gradually emerging. Tourists from all over the world fly to Tanzania to visit coffee farms, walk among the coffee forests, pick and grind coffee beans with their own hands, and finally make a cup of coffee that is uniquely their own.

Daniel Joachim is a coffee tourism guide in the Arusha region of northern Tanzania.

According to him, coffee is an indispensable morning drink for Western adults, but many people have never seen green coffee beans with their own eyes, let alone coffee trees. Therefore, he believes he has a responsibility to show people the complete process of coffee from farm to cup.

He mentioned that before coffee tourism became widespread in Arusha, if someone searched for "coffee tourism" on Google Maps, the results would only point to Ethiopia. So he decided to keep posting information about Tanzania coffee tourism online and continuously improve his services in order to differentiate them from similar services in Ethiopia.

Daniel transformed his farm in Tengeru, Arusha, into a coffee farm to attract coffee tourists. At the same time, he also added a culinary component on top of coffee tourism—Daniel and his team cook local specialty dishes for guests, such as Ugali and nyama choma, and they adjust the dishes according to the dietary habits of the guests' regions.

Local young people saw Daniel's progress in coffee farm tourism and decided to explore it as well. At first, they only handed out handwritten flyers at popular restaurants around Arusha to promote their services, but now tourists have begun to contact them on their own initiative.

It is understood that coffee tourism in Arusha reached its peak as early as 2013. Tourists usually choose a coffee tour after a safari trip to relax after the wild journey. Now, more tourists even fly in specifically from Europe, Japan, and the United States to visit coffee farms and experience local life.

However, coffee tourism is not yet regarded as a mainstream activity in Tanzania, because the tourism offerings the country focuses on promoting are still safaris and national parks. At present, among more than two hundred tourism companies, only ten provide coffee tourism services.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.