The Aranga coffee is grown by a group of 30 small scale farming families in the village of Aranga, on the slopes of Mount Meru in Northern Tanzania. Each family has 0.5 to 2 acres which they farm in the traditional local method of intercropping. These families broke away from the mismanaged regional cooperative and united to form the Aranga Coffee Group in 2002 to improve farming techniques, find better markets and establish a more transparent and democratic governing system. Over the years this dedication and investments have paid off. Aranga boasts some of the best coffee to be found anywhere in Tanzania and has a remarkably successful and transparent business. The Aranga farmers are certified by the Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (TOAM).

The Aranga Coffee Group is also unusual progressive in its involvement of women, where some even hold several key leadership positions. This is very unusual since in this part of Tanzania, coffee being a cash crop, its sales earnings belong to men because traditionally men own the coffee trees. At Tanza Coffee, we would like to stimulate and encourage more women to take active role in the group since they are actually the ones doing majority of the coffee farming related activities such as planting, taking care of plants, harvesting, washing and drying. Improving the income of women mostly positively contributes to reducing local gender inequalities, make women more social economically independent and usually has bigger impact on the wellbeing of the whole family.