How Does Papua New Guinea Coffee Come About? How Are Papua New Guinea Coffee Beans Classified?

Papua New Guinea is a remarkable country with many indigenous tribes, where agriculture is the largest industry and coffee is one of its products. While coffee doesn't account for a high proportion of their agricultural output, it has gained considerable recognition because the country's coffee is known as the "Little Blue Mountain." You might find it surprising that Papua New Guinea belongs to the Asian coffee-growing region – isn't that fascinating? Doesn't it make this country seem mysterious? Come explore with FrontStreet Coffee!

Coffee Characteristics and Processing

Papua New Guinea's coffee production is not particularly high, but all its coffee beans consist of carefully processed washed Arabica beans. Generally, washed coffee beans are full of bright fruit aromas without strong acidity. Their characteristics include a silky-smooth mouthfeel and wonderful fragrance, with moderate acidity – making them a rare coffee variety that combines high body with medium acidity.

Flavor notes: nuts, sugarcane, spices

Rise in Specialty Coffee

In recent years, Papua New Guinea coffee has begun representing Oceania in the world specialty coffee category with its unique high-quality washed Arabica beans. Papua New Guinea coffee is characterized by full-bodied beans, moderate acidity, and a fragrant, mellow taste profile.

Geography and Growing Conditions

Papua New Guinea is an island nation in Oceania. In Malay, "Papua" means "curly hair." It is said that in 1545, explorer Retez arrived at the island and noticed that most of the islanders had curly hair, so he called it "the island of curly-haired people," and this name has been passed down ever since. Located east of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea has a typical island climate, situated between the equator and 10 degrees south latitude. With tropical rainforest, volcanic rocks, and plateau terrain, and elevations ranging from 1,200 to 2,500 meters, it is truly a paradise for coffee cultivation.

Local production is not large, with approximately 85% of total coffee production coming from smallholder garden cultivation systems. Small farmers join local cooperatives and share processing equipment. Coffee is the second-largest agricultural export by volume from Papua New Guinea, demonstrating the importance of the coffee industry to the country's economy. Due to different coffee varieties than Indonesia, higher elevations than Sumatra, and the use of washed processing, PNG coffee's regional characteristics differ markedly from Indonesia's heavy, low-profile flavors, instead exhibiting brightness, sweet-sour notes, and floral-fruit aromas similar to South American coffees.

Papua New Guinea boasts a pristine, natural environment with vast, fertile land. Its unique volcanic soil and abundant rainfall create excellent natural conditions for coffee growth. Papua New Guinea's premium coffee beans are as beautiful and precious as the country's national bird, the bird of paradise.

Kimel Plantation: A Case Study

Large plantations typically have their own washing facilities, while smaller individual coffee farmers can better control output quality and flavor expression. The Kimel Plantation, located in the Western Highlands' Waghi Valley near the Kimel River, like many large farms, has its own dedicated washing facility. However, it is actually jointly owned by numerous independent small farmers from the surrounding Opais people, making it, in a sense, a private cooperative. Due to excellent growing conditions and stable quality control processes at the processing facility, the resulting coffee exhibits lively brightness while preserving the unique flavor characteristics of Papua New Guinea coffee.

Another special feature is the diversity of coffee varieties cultivated at Kimel – so numerous they cannot be counted on one hand: Typica, Arusha, Blue Mountain, Mundo Novo, Catimor, Caturra, and many more. In fact, just as one wouldn't put all eggs in one basket, most farmers plant different varieties to avoid risks of poor growth or unexpected production from any particular variety, which also creates interesting expressions in their coffee flavor profiles.

Coffee Grading System

Papua New Guinea coffee grades: Total of 12 grades, classified by defects

(Applicable only to Arabica)

Meaning and rules of Papua New Guinea green coffee bean names:

PNG Plantation Y

Country + cultivation type + grade name

In Papua New Guinea:

Plantations and Large Estates account for 25% of national production;

Small to medium-sized farms (Holdings or Blocks) of 10-20 hectares account for 10%;

In PNG, there are 76 registered plantations and estates.

Let's use the most notable specialty grades AA and A as examples:

(1) AA and A grade coffees belong to specialty coffee grades, mainly from larger estates.

For AA grade, beans are larger than 18 screen, elliptical flat beans. Defect count: maximum 10 defects per kilogram. Green bean appearance is greenish-blue. Green bean flavor must be clean, roasted flavor must be clean and smooth. Cup quality must be excellent (Fine Cup).

(2) A grade size is larger than 17 screen, cupping must reach at least GTF level (Good to Fine) – meaning good to excellent cup quality. Other defect counts and green bean conditions are the same as AA.

In summary, whether used for espresso blending or general coffee blends, it can compensate for the shortcomings of acidic coffees. Combined with the principle of rarity value, it has been increasingly favored by coffee enthusiasts in recent years.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473