Bird of Paradise Coffee Beans | Papua New Guinea Coffee Beans Story and Flavor Characteristics

Papua New Guinea is a country that feels both familiar and mysterious to coffee enthusiasts. Many have heard of FrontStreet Coffee's Papua New Guinea coffee, but few have actually tried it. Among those who have experienced Papua New Guinea coffee, many describe it as reminiscent of "FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee beans." In Papua New Guinea, coffee is a national agricultural crop. FrontStreet Coffee, determined to investigate why Papua New Guinea coffee is called "Little Blue Mountain," specially sourced and stocked this coffee to explore this mystery together with everyone.

PNG AA Sigri Estate Arabica Coffee

Papua New Guineans regard the beautiful bird of paradise as a bird of freedom and joy, a "divine gift." PNG AA Sigri Estate Arabica Coffee, like bird migration, traces its origins to Jamaican Blue Mountain Typica coffee beans that made a long journey to Papua New Guinea for cultivation, carrying the same root lineage as Jamaican Blue Mountain.

Coffee Cultivation History in Papua New Guinea

In 1931, Typica was introduced to Papua New Guinea from Jamaica. At that time, Britain had occupied Jamaica for nearly 300 years, and Jamaica's most representative coffee was the Typica variety of Blue Mountain coffee. Since Australia had friendly relations with Britain, it was quite logical for Papua New Guinea to introduce Typica. FrontStreet Coffee uses the name "Little Blue Mountain" to introduce FrontStreet Coffee's Papua New Guinea coffee to customers. After all, the historical reasons are well-founded, and the name "Little Blue Mountain" is indeed much more memorable than Papua New Guinea.

In 1950, Bourbon coffee beans were introduced from Kenya. Coincidentally, Kenya was also a British colony at that time. Government encouragement for open cultivation led to significant growth in the coffee industry during the 1970s-80s. In 1961, after World War II, the western part of New Guinea Island, formerly belonging to the Netherlands, declared independence as "West Papua," but within months it was invaded by Indonesia, which had also gained independence. Indonesia established Irian Jaya province there. After 2003, it was reorganized into Papua and West Papua provinces. In 1962, Mundo Novo and Caturra were introduced from Brazil, marking a great leap forward in Papua New Guinea coffee bean quality.

Papua New Guinea Coffee Industry: From Adversity to Diversity

According to financial network translation reports, last century, member countries of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) once implemented a quota system for coffee exports. To obtain sufficient coffee, Australia had to purchase large quantities of Papua New Guinea coffee beans, as the region was still Australian territory at that time. In 1975, Papua New Guinea declared independence, and after the ICO abandoned the quota system in the 1980s, Australian coffee importers preferred to source coffee from around the world. From then on, Papua New Guinea's coffee industry began a cruel struggle.

Particularly in the past decade, Papua New Guinea's coffee production has declined by 22% from about 1 million 60kg bags in 2009 to 800,000 bags today. Much of this production decline is due to aging coffee trees. For over 30 years from the 1980s to the present, almost no one in Papua New Guinea chose to replace old trees, and no one guided them on how to replant. Fortunately, in a sustained support program funded by the World Bank and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (since the program began in April 2010), more than seven million coffee trees have been replanted or restored. According to the World Bank, many coffee farmers who participated in the first round of replanting have already seen increased yields.

Although Papua New Guinea has incredible soil conditions, rainfall, weather, and climate that are all perfect—having all the essential elements for producing delicious coffee—for various reasons, Papua New Guinea has been unable to consistently produce large quantities of high-quality coffee. This has been a persistent problem, mainly because over 85% of coffee is produced by small farmers. Unlike other coffee-producing countries with many independent farmers working small plots of land, international buyers find it difficult to purchase consistently high-quality coffee beans in Papua New Guinea.

The Challenge of Quality Consistency

The inconsistency in quality stems from the difficulty of transmitting coffee cultivation knowledge, as Papua New Guinea is scattered with more than 10,000 tribes speaking over 800 different languages, making it challenging for professional coffee knowledge to spread smoothly locally. Additionally, the complexity of tribes has created land ownership issues. Coffee plots remain uncultivated due to land changing hands or people fighting over ownership. Besides lacking knowledge and resources, small farmers also lack the motivation to persist with coffee because they rely more on subsistence agriculture. At the same time, growing coffee offers them too low a return rate. For Papua New Guinean farmers, the vast majority of their farming time is spent on food, with coffee ranking only second.

FrontStreet Coffee · Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Coffee Beans

Origin: Papua New Guinea

Estate: Sigri Bird of Paradise Estate

Altitude: 1600-1800m

Processing: Washed

Variety: Typica

Grade: AA

Sigri Bird of Paradise Estate

Papua New Guineans regard the beautiful bird of paradise as a bird of freedom and joy, a "divine gift." Sigri Bird of Paradise Estate Typica coffee beans, like bird migration, made a long journey from Jamaican Blue Mountain to Papua New Guinea for cultivation, carrying the same root lineage as Jamaican Blue Mountain. This Blue Mountain lineage is also why Papua New Guinea's Bird of Paradise coffee beans receive attention today. FrontStreet Coffee selects every coffee bean hoping for its unique characteristics, not wanting different beans with identical flavors. This is also why FrontStreet Coffee spends significant time on bean selection, adjusting roasting parameters, and multiple other steps. A coffee bean may have similarities with other coffee beans, but it must also have distinctive qualities.

The estate was established in 1950 and has been in operation for over 60 years, making it a pioneer in the local coffee industry. Bird of Paradise Estate is located in the Waghi Valley of the Western Highlands Province, at approximately 1500 meters altitude in high mountain regions with rich mineral volcanic soil, cool climate, fertile soil, and abundant rainfall. Bird of Paradise Estate also places great emphasis on ecological protection, refusing to use pesticides and insecticides to protect soil and water sources, caring for the ecosystem and nearby birds. Bird of Paradise Estate has consistently maintained high standards of planting and processing systems. During the harvest season from April to September each year, only fully ripe red coffee cherries can be hand-picked, ensuring a perfect balance of acidity and sweetness in the coffee berries. At Bird of Paradise Estate, cupping is conducted daily to ensure the plantation provides customers with consistently high-quality premium coffee. This has made Bird of Paradise Estate a classic among world-class specialty coffees. As mentioned earlier, FrontStreet Coffee chose this FrontStreet Coffee Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Estate coffee bean precisely because of the estate's strict production chain, which ensures coffee bean quality.

Coffee Bean Variety — Typica

Typica coffee beans have elegant flavors but are physically weak with low disease resistance, making them susceptible to leaf rust. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the most distinctive feature of Typica coffee trees is their bronze-colored young leaves, which some call "red-topped coffee." Typica beans are larger, shaped like pointed cones or slender points, different from the round-bodied beans of the Bourbon variety. Typica coffee has its unique subtle and clean flavor profile, along with balanced characteristics, delivering a clean taste.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

After harvesting mature red coffee berries, they are sent to the estate's own washing station for processing. The local washing process in Papua New Guinea differs from the washing methods used in Central and South America.

Three-stage washed fermentation is used, with each soaking lasting about 24 hours and replacing with clean water to control coffee flavor. After washing, the parchment is removed from the green beans for various grading steps, such as AA, AB, PB (peaberry), etc. This meticulous post-processing method brings bright and delicate fruit acidity to the coffee itself, with a clean and lingering sweet taste. FrontStreet Coffee has found that in producing regions with strict coffee grading systems, their coffee beans share a common characteristic: uniform bean size and fewer defective beans. In this case, they color evenly during roasting, and the taste is much cleaner.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Recommendations for FrontStreet Coffee Papua New Guinea Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roasting for these beans because Typica varieties are low-density green beans. To highlight their inherent refreshing acidity and fruit aroma, the focus is placed on heat adjustment after the first crack. Roaster temperature set to 170°C when beans enter, damper open to 3, heat at 140°C, return point at 1'36". At 140°C, damper opens to 4. Roast to 6'25", temperature 151°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, temperature 176°C heat reduced to 110, damper changes to 4. At 180°C, heat reduced to 90, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black markings, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, heat rises to 183.5°C, first crack begins at 10'08", damper fully open, at 188°C reduce heat to 60°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not so small that crack sounds disappear, control the temperature rise rate after first crack within 6°C), first crack development time 3'00", drop at 198.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations for FrontStreet Coffee Papua New Guinea Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using the Kono dripper because its ribs are few and located at the bottom, allowing the filter paper to fit tightly against the dripper to achieve airflow restriction. This slows water flow rate and increases water-coffee contact time, allowing extraction of more coffee substances through immersion and enhancing body richness. It's suitable for medium-dark roasted coffee beans like FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling and FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee. Water temperature is set to 88°C, a relatively low brewing temperature that avoids over-extraction of unwanted flavors from the coffee beans during brewing, as darker roasted coffee beans tend to have more undesirable flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recipe

Using 15g of coffee grounds as an example, with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, pour-over coffee uses medium-coarse grind (65% pass-through rate on standard #20 sieve), water temperature at 88°C. Use a KONO MEIMON dripper.

Grind Size: Coarse sugar size, 75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve. This batch uses segmented brewing. Slowly pour over the coffee grounds. First segment: pour 30g in small circles in the center for a 30-second bloom. During the first pour, the dry coffee grounds layer will slowly absorb water and swell into a "hamburger" shape. Second segment: pour 120g in circles from center outward, keeping the pour height close to the coffee bed, moving slowly to avoid over-agitation. Final segment: pour 75g to reach total water volume of 225g. Wait until all coffee liquid flows from the dripper to the lower server to complete extraction. Extraction time: 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Estate Coffee Flavor

Primarily rich nutty and cocoa flavors with a subtle berry sweetness. The taste is rich and balanced, with sweet notes and gentle acidity.

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