Papua New Guinea Coffee

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For years, Papua New Guinea's coffee has been overshadowed by that of its neighbor Indonesia. However, its highly fruity, sweet coffee and ideal growing conditions have attracted the attention and interest of FrontStreet Coffee. With coffee production growing by 65% between 2015 and 2016, it's time for us to pay more attention to this Oceanian country. Papua New Guinea is one of the least developed countries in the world, with dense rainforests, rugged mountains, and diverse indigenous peoples. Additionally, the country is located in the equatorial rainy climate zone, dominated by tropical rainforests, and its biodiversity amazed FrontStreet Coffee's partners - with approximately 6,500 native plant species and 380 native bird species, it can be called an important biological treasure trove of the world.

Although Papua New Guinea is close to Indonesia, due to different coffee varieties, higher altitudes than Sumatra, and the use of washed processing, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Papua New Guinea coffee's regional flavor is completely different from Indonesia's heavy, mellow aroma, instead having brightness, sweet and sour notes, and floral and fruity aromas.

The island of New Guinea was successively colonized by the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Japan, Australia, and other countries from the 18th to 19th centuries. In 1961, the western half of the island became Indonesian territory, while the eastern half became independent from Australia in 1975, becoming today's Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific, and coffee is the only cash crop in the Papua New Guinea highlands, accounting for 40% of the country's total, with over 2 million small farmers relying on coffee for their livelihood. The coffee produced is mainly distributed in mountainous areas at altitudes between 1,500 and 1,900 meters, where the scenery is picturesque, with abundant rainfall and volcanic soil, making it very suitable for growing high-quality Arabica coffee beans.

According to the Papua New Guinea Coffee Industry Corporation, Papua New Guinea has 16 producing provinces. However, over 90% of production is located in the Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Morobe, and Chimbu provinces. The vast majority of coffee is exported to Germany, the United States, and Australia. Even though Papua New Guinea's production has increased by 65%, the country's harvest is still quite small. According to ICO data, in 2016 it produced nearly 1.2 million bags of coffee (60kg/bag) (in comparison, Indonesia produced nearly 11.5 million bags). More importantly, before 2016, the industry had been in decline. However, many Papua New Guineans are affected by the coffee industry: CIC estimates it provides income for 400,000 rural families.

Challenges Facing Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea coffee producers face many challenges, but one of the biggest challenges is logistics. Scott Bennett, Managing Director of Australian importer Bennetts, worked in Papua New Guinea in the 1990s. He told FrontStreet Coffee: "This is not an easy country. The roads between mountains are poor, which makes transportation somewhat unreliable."

Although leaf rust is not currently a major problem, environmental threats still exist. CIC has called on the Papua New Guinea government to provide financial support for controlling this pest. Similarly, the Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International is working to prevent and manage its presence, while the New Zealand Fair Trade Australia office is providing domestic farmer training for coffee groups applying for Fair Trade certification.

Another challenge facing producers is ensuring crop consistency so they can enter specialty markets.

Papua New Guinea Coffee Bean Grading Standards

PNG's green coffee bean grading method is the same as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Puerto Rico, all using bean size as the basis for grading. Although coffee bean size is not an absolute standard for flavor quality, it is a highly referenced indicator for coffee beans from some producing regions. In these areas, robust growth, fully formed, beautiful mature beans best showcase wonderful flavors. Consistent ripeness, hardness, and moisture content factors make the roasting process easier to achieve uniform, perfect flavors, so many emerging producing regions also use this as a grading method.

Papua New Guinea's coffee grades are divided into 12 levels, graded by defects:

Grade | Screen Size
AA | >18
A | 17
AB | >16 (50%) >17 (50%)
B | >16
C | >15
PB | 11-14S
X | mixed
E | >19
PSC | >15mm
Y1 | mixed
Y2 | mixed
T | mixed

Meaning and Rules of Papua New Guinea Green Coffee Names:

PNG Plantation Y
Country + Planting Type + Grade Name

In Papua New Guinea, Plantations and Large Estates account for 25% of national production; small to medium-sized farms of 10-20 hectares (Holdings or Blocks) account for 10%; in PNG, there are 76 registered plantations and estates.

Take 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, bean size is larger than 18 screen, bean shape is oval flat beans. Defect count: maximum 10 defects per kilogram. Green bean appearance is greenish-blue. Green bean flavor should be clean, roasted flavor should be clean and smooth. Cup quality must be excellent (Fine Cup).

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

Papua New Guinea Growing Regions

Eastern Highlands Province

Most coffee in Papua New Guinea comes from the highland provinces, and the Eastern Highlands Province is undoubtedly the best coffee-producing region in Papua New Guinea.

■ Altitude: 400-1900m
■ Harvest period: April-September
■ Varieties: Bourbon, Typica, Arusha

Western Highlands Province

The Western Highlands Province is another major coffee-producing region in Papua New Guinea. Much coffee is grown around the provincial capital Mount Hagen, with the city name derived from an ancient dormant volcano. Coffee from this region is mostly processed in Goroka, making it difficult for some coffees to obtain traceability. The altitude combined with extremely fertile soil gives this region's coffee unlimited quality potential.

■ Altitude: 1000-1800m
■ Harvest period: April-September
■ Varieties: Bourbon, Typica, Arusha

Chimbu Province

Chimbu has a relatively short history of coffee cultivation, but it possesses rich soil, high altitudes, mild year-round climate, and good green bean processing: coffee farmers manually select ripe coffee cherries and transport them to Goroka processing plants for depulping and fermentation, through washed processing and sun-drying processes, which is the currently popular honey processing, to ensure quality, giving coffee beans rich, mellow flavors, making them excellent quality coffee beans. 90% of the population in the region is engaged in coffee-related industries, making it basically the only cash crop locally.

■ Altitude: 1300-1900m
■ Harvest period: April-September
■ Varieties: Bourbon, Typica, Arusha

Kimel Estate

In the 1920s, British people from Kenya established large plantations in Papua New Guinea to grow commercial coffee. They introduced native Arabica varieties from Ethiopia and Kenya, as well as Blue Mountain and Typica varieties from Jamaica. At that time, most coffee was produced by 18 large coffee farms. As time passed, although some large coffee farms continue to operate, their production now only accounts for 15% of the country's total. Currently, most coffee comes from individual small farmers who grow coffee in their own "coffee gardens," with these farmers relying on agriculture for their livelihood.

Kimel is located in the western highland Waghi Valley near the Kimel River Valley, with volcanic rock soil. Like many large farms or estates, it has its own dedicated washing processing plant, but in fact, this is an estate jointly owned by many independent small coffee farmers from the surrounding Opais people. Due to excellent growing environment conditions and the processing plant's stable quality control processes, the produced coffee has active brightness while retaining a considerable degree of Papua New Guinea coffee's unique flavor characteristics. Kimel's cultivated coffee varieties are diverse, including Typica, Arusha, Blue Mountain, Mundo Novo, Catimor, Caturra, etc. Most farmers plant different varieties to avoid risks of production abnormalities in specific varieties, which also creates interesting expressions in this coffee.

Kimel Estate was founded in 1974 by Australian businessman Bobby Gibbs, named after the adjacent river (Kimel River). Currently, there are 432 employees, mainly from the Opais tribe, living here. Although the estate owner is a foreigner, coffee production and estate management are handled by local farmers. The estate also provides complete educational institutions and medical facilities. Coffee trees in the estate are all cultivated under shade, which not only regulates temperature but also reduces excessive sunlight. Local farmers also adopt practices that minimize environmental impact during production, such as recycling water resources and using residual berries as compost. The estate grows numerous varieties, from traditional Typica and Bourbon to rare Blue Mountain varieties, making the coffee produced here more resistant to various pests, diseases, and natural disasters, stabilizing quality while bringing more elements to coffee flavor.

Kimel Estate Cupping Scores Over the Years

November 2014 Coffee Review 92 points
November 2013 Coffee Review 93 points

What is Little Blue Mountain Coffee?

In 1937, Papua New Guinea's coffee cultivation began with seeds imported from Jamaica's famous Blue Mountain region. Kimel Estate's seedlings were transplanted from Jamaican native seedlings of the Typica Arabica variety, which can be called descendants of Blue Mountain, also known as "Little Blue Mountain Coffee." The flavor characteristics of Little Blue Mountain Coffee are close to authentic Blue Mountain Coffee, but with some differences. Little Blue Mountain Coffee's fruit acidity notes are more prominent and full, unlike authentic Blue Mountain Coffee's balanced sweet, sour, and bitter profile.

Kimel Estate Coffee Cupping Report

Flavor:

This Kimel Estate peaberry coffee has a slight spice aroma on the palate, with a sweet and refreshing taste of nuts and sugarcane upon entry, a creamy smoothness like cream, and a more solid texture typical of peaberries. The overall performance is balanced and smooth. The flavor is rich, the aroma is pleasant, with no herbal or earthy notes. Its texture is as intense and mellow as Van Gogh's paintings.

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