14Zambia
28,000 bags (ICO 2009)In-depth country profile: production, varieties, classification, history, current situation and points that remain uncertain. Region: Southern Africa.
Zambia came to coffee later than its East African neighbors. The crop has existed since the 1950s, but it took until the 1980s for exporting to really get started.
It is above all an export crop, and the country has no port of its own. Lots transit through Durban or Dar es Salaam, two outlets located outside the borders, which adds a step and a cost to every bag.
Production is split between many smallholders in the North and a few large landowners in the South, who weigh heavily in the total volume. The sector is overseen by a Coffee Board and an association that promotes specialty coffees; organic, UTZ and fair-trade certifications are growing.
- Botanical species
- Arabica, Canephora
- Altitude
- 1,000 to 1,500 m
- Shade
- Fruit trees
- Harvest
- Manual and selective (picking)
- Processing
- Wet process only
- Sorting
- Mechanical and manual
- Harvest period
- April to September
- Packaging
- 69 kg bag
Grading, by bean size, is identical to Kenya's.
| Grade | Screen / description |
| AAA | Screen 19 (best quality) |
| AA | Screen 18 |
| AB | Screen 16 |
| C | Screen 14 |
| PB | Small bean, below 4.5 mm |
| TT | Finer than the AA and AB grades |
| T | Small bean, below screen 15 |
| E (“Elephant”) | Screen 12 |
History
Zambia came to coffee well after its East African neighbors: the crop dates from the 1950s, real exporting from the 1980s.
A silence confirms it. In 1922, Ukers gives no line for Northern Rhodesia, the colonial name of the country, in his world table of exports. An absence proves nothing on its own, but it fits this late chronology.
The exact date of the first plantations, somewhere in the 1950s, is not established by the sources consulted.Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; Ukers 1922, ch. XXII, p. 289-291 (exports of the producing countries), p. 291
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; Ukers 1922, ch. XXII, p. 289-291 (exports of the producing countries), p. 291The planting material comes from the neighbors: the profile lists varieties originating in Tanzania and Kenya, plus Bourbon, Catimor and Caturra. This is the classic pattern of a young sector: lineages already proven are imported rather than selected locally.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025Today
The volume at the head of the profile, 28,000 bags, is that of the profile (ICO 2009). It is above all an export crop, between 1,000 and 1,500 meters, with selective manual harvesting and the wet process only; lots transit through Durban or Dar es Salaam. Production is split between many smallholders in the North and a few large landowners in the South, who weigh heavily in the total volume.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026The sector is overseen by a Coffee Board and an association that promotes specialty coffees; organic, UTZ and fair-trade certifications are growing.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Gray areas
- No Zambian production volume after 2009 could be sourced.
- The exact names and founding dates of the Zambian Coffee Board and of the specialty coffee association are not documented by the sources in the corpus.
- The list of varieties “originating in Tanzania and Kenya” is not specified: it is not known whether they are SL, Kent or other lineages.
- The exact date of the first plantations in the 1950s is not established.