The Arusha Coffee Experience

Materuni is near Moshi and combines coffee with a waterfall hike, making a full and fairly demanding day. This is near Arusha, is coffee-focused throughout, and involves almost no walking. Do whichever matches the town you're staying in — there's little point doing both, since the coffee process is much the same.

Hands-on throughout. You pick where the season allows, pulp the cherries, turn the beans on the drying beds, roast over an open fire and pound in a wooden mortar. The pounding in particular is real work. Watching would be far less interesting and considerably less memorable.

Yes, and you should — around $10 for half a kilo, bought directly from the growing family. It's fresher and cheaper than anything you'll find at the airport, and the money stays with the people who grew it. Bring small notes; nobody has change for large bills.

Yes, any age. Children usually enjoy the roasting and the pounding song more than the adults do. There's no difficult walking and the estate is a safe, contained environment. We can arrange juice instead of coffee for the tasting.

Somewhat. Picking runs roughly July to December, and in that window you'll pick cherries straight off the branch. Outside it, the estate uses stored cherries so you still do the complete process — you just don't get the picking. The roasting and brewing are identical year-round.

It barely matters. Most of the process happens under cover, which makes this one of our best wet-weather options. If a hiking day gets rained off, this is usually what we suggest instead.