Hello Sideyard Friends,

Given how little coffee Zambia exports, it’s unsurprising that we don’t often find it on offer with our importers. Zambian coffee makes up just 0.5% of US coffee imports and their total production is under 2,000 metric tonnes—the equivalent ~100 shipping containers (to Brazil’s leading 187k shipping containers).

I’m always excited to find and try coffee from smaller producing countries, and the fact that it’s sorted into a peaberry lot makes it that much more fun. It’s a washed process coffee with a nice snap of acidity. The main notes are citrus, tart cherry, and chocolate.

The origin track for the week is by WITCH (We Intend to Cause Havoc). WITCH pioneered the Zamrock genre by combining traditional African music with psychedelic rock, blues, and funk. Here’s Home Town from 1972 and a bonus track—their recent cover of Talking Head’s Once in a Lifetime (2025).

Cheers,

Ryan

p.s. One spare Zambia in stock.