13Malawi
17,000 bagsIn-depth country profile: production, varieties, classification, history, current situation and points that remain uncertain. Region: Southern Africa.
Malawi is a small producer, often eclipsed by tea, which occupies a far larger place in its economy. Landlocked, crossed by the Rift and bordered by an immense lake, the country has to deal with a major constraint: getting coffee to the export ports.
Production comes mostly from large estates, with smallholders grouping in cooperatives in the northern highlands. After a decade in which many uprooted their plants, the trend is slowly recovering, partly thanks to the conversion of former tobacco fields.
- Botanical species
- Arabica
- Altitude
- 1,600 to 2,000 m (terraced)
- Shade
- Permanent and natural (faidherbia albida, gliricidia, tephrosia)
- Harvest
- Manual (at dawn, before sunrise)
- Processing
- Wet process; natural drying on tables
- Preparation
- Sorting and screen grading
- Harvest period
- May to October
- Packaging
- 60-kg bag
There is no official standard, but the Coffee Association of Malawi has set grading rules by grade.
| Grade | Screen / description |
| E (“Elephant”) | Screen 19/20 (manual sorting of AAA) |
| AAA | Screen 19 (very little volume) |
| AA | Screen 18 (grade 1 if mixed with AA) |
| AB | Screen 16 (grade 2 if mixed with AA) |
| PB | Screen 12 (equivalent to grade 2) |
| TT2 | Screen 14 (sorting leftovers from AAA/AA/AB, no black beans) |
| TT3 | Screen 10 (sorting leftovers from PB, no black beans) |
Moisture at delivery: 8 to 12.5%. Maximum 86 defects per 300 g sample (about 29 per 100 g). No black beans tolerated (ICO ochratoxin legislation).
History
Ukers dates to 1878 the start of the spread of coffee by the British in British Central Africa, that is, in Nyasaland, present-day Malawi. In 1918, the territory exported 122,796 pounds, and a British report of 1919 counts 1,300 acres planted: an old coffee sector but one that remained tiny.
Ukers, All About Coffee (1922), ch. II, p. 5-10; Ukers 1922, ch. XX, p. 216-244, p. 243; Ukers 1922, ch. XXII, p. 289-291 (exports of the producing countries), p. 291Malawi gave its name to a variety distributed elsewhere: Nyasaland, from the colonial name of the country. It is a Typica, and it found its audience among Ugandan smallholders rather than at home.
The country is also the point of passage of a 1956 Gesha lineage. It is distinct from the Geisha of 1931, the one distributed from Costa Rica. The confusion between the two is easy since they bear almost the same name.
Documentation on the 1956 lineage remains thin, including in the varieties catalog. We know that it passed through Malawi, hardly more.World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Nyasaland and Gesha (1956 lineage, Malawi) profiles
World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Nyasaland and Gesha (1956 lineage, Malawi) profilesToday
The volume at the head of the profile, 17,000 bags, is that of the profile: it is the smallest production of the thirty-two origins presented here.
Coffee grows between 1,600 and 2,000 meters, on terraces, that is, on flat ledges cut into the slope. The range of varieties is unusual for so small a volume: Agaro, Geisha, Blue Mountain, Catimor, Malawi Bronze, SL28, Caturra, Catuai. The orchard is more diverse than the volume would lead one to expect.
Harvesting is done by hand at dawn, before sunrise. The reason for this schedule is not given by the profile.
Processing is the wet process, with natural drying on tables.Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Two constraints structure the sector: tea, which occupies a far larger place in the economy, and being landlocked, which makes transport to the export ports difficult. After a decade of uprooting, the trend is slowly recovering, partly through the conversion of former tobacco fields; production comes mostly from large estates, with smallholders grouping in cooperatives in the northern highlands.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Gray areas
- The “SL29” cited by the profile does not appear in any varieties catalog consulted; SL28, SL34 and SL4 do.
- No recent production volume could be sourced for Malawi.
- The decade of uprooting mentioned by the profile is neither dated nor quantified by the available sources.
- The Gesha 1956 lineage that passed through Malawi is poorly documented, including in the varieties catalog.