Tasting Profile and Brewing Guide for Papua New Guinea Kimel Coffee Beans

Papua New Guinea

Kimel Plantation, Papua New Guinea

This is a low-key island nation located in the eastern part of New Guinea Island. Papua New Guinea is the world's third-largest island country, with coffee being an important agricultural crop distributed among small-scale coffee farms in the highland areas. Papua New Guinea's Kimel Plantation has natural environment similar to Jamaica's Blue Mountains.

Papua New Guinea's coffee production accounts for 1% of the world's total, with coffee being the second-largest agricultural export product after palm oil. About 2.5 million people are engaged in this industry. The Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, and Chimbu Province are the main coffee-growing regions in Papua New Guinea. Most coffee trees are grown by small farmers, with each small area cultivating about 20 trees.

Kimel Plantation Papua New Guinea

Kimel Plantation was established in 1974 by Bobby Gibbs, an Australian. It is currently owned by traditional landowners. The plantation is located in the Waghi Valley of the Western Highlands, at an altitude of 5,200 feet. The soil is mainly sandy, with temperatures ranging from 6-29 degrees Celsius and annual rainfall of 260-270mm. Covering 620 hectares, it is managed by experienced foreign staff with 432 permanent buildings, providing educational and medical facilities. The plantation is named after the nearby Kimel River.

Due to quality control and effective management, Kimel Estate coffee has become one of Papua New Guinea's best-known coffees.

Coffee Grades in Papua New Guinea

Total of 12 grades, classified by defects

Meaning and Rules of Papua New Guinea Green 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 and medium-sized farms (Holdings or Blocks) of 10-20 hectares account for 10% of production;

In PNG, there are 76 registered plantations and estates.

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

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

For AA grade, the bean size is larger than 18 mesh, with oval-shaped flat beans. Maximum defect count: 10 defects per kilogram. The appearance of green beans is green with a slight blue tint. The green beans should taste clean, the roasted flavor should be clean and smooth.

(2) A grade beans are larger than 17 mesh, with cupping quality reaching at least GTF grade (Good to Fine), meaning good to excellent taste—other defect counts and green bean conditions are the same as AA grade.

FrontStreet Coffee's Papua New Guinea beans come from PNG AA Sigri Estate, packaged in 60KG inner bags. Due to their Jamaican Blue Mountain Typica heritage, they have a flavor profile similar to Blue Mountain coffee, with excellent balance, elegant and comfortable acidity, and pleasant, long-lasting aftertaste. They are truly specialty coffees with distinct regional characteristics.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

Typica variety, being low-density green beans, is not very suitable for dark roasting. It naturally has refreshing acidity and fruity aroma. FrontStreet Coffee chooses medium roasting, focusing on heat adjustment after the first crack. First, we determine the condition of the green beans and then decide on the roasting method. This is a washed process, low-density, 10% moisture content green bean from 2017. We set the initial temperature based on the current state of the green beans.

Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans, specific operation:

Heat the roaster to 200°C, load the beans, set the damper to 3. After 1 minute of steaming, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. At 160°C, adjust heat once more, reducing to 115°C. Roast to 5'35", temperature 152°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, damper adjusted to 4;

At the 9th minute, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, the toast smell obviously changes to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of the first crack. At 8'40", first crack begins. Keep the small heat unchanged, damper fully open to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to avoid no cracking sound). At 191.3°C, unload the beans.

Cupping Notes

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Dry Aroma: Nutty, woody, spicy

Wet Aroma: Cane sweetness, hazelnut, toast-like

Flavor: Toast sweetness, nutty sweetness, slight fruit acidity creates a good layered feeling. The spicy sweetness in the aftertaste is quite special. It tastes rich and balanced, with sweet flavor and bright acidity, having a fruity aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Grind size: 4 (Japan Fuji R440)

Water temperature: 89°C

Pour in a clockwise circle with the center of the filter as the center point. Do not pour water on the area where coffee grounds meet the filter paper to avoid channeling effect (channeling effect means water doesn't contact the coffee grounds and flows directly to the lower pot).

Brewing time: Generally between 1 minute 40 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds. The longer the time, the more substances will be extracted from the coffee. With the same amount of water injected, the coffee flavor will be stronger, but it will also increase the risk of obvious bitterness.

Other Drip Extraction Recommendations:

French press: recommended grind size 3.5-4 / water temperature 90°C

AeroPress: recommended grind size 3, water temperature 85°C

Siphon: grind size 4.5, water temperature 91°C

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473