Papua New Guinea Riverside Kabiufa

About Papua New Guinea Riverside Kabiufa

New crop arrived late June 2023 in grainpro.

We keep ourselves open to nice coffee from Papua New Guinea when we can find ones we like.  When they are good they can be very good and present a value proposition.  Many are ordinary coffees.  This particular lot from Riverside Mill stood out to us as something we felt we wanted to offer.

This coffee reflects the initiative of one individual, Moses Venapo, an entrepreneurial producer in the Eastern Highlands, who wanted to offer local smallholders better access to higher market prices as well as a higher-traceability option. While most coffee in Kabiufa is delivered in parchment in small quantities to roadside delivery points, Moses established a cherry-buying facility as well as installed a wet mill in his back yard in order to have more control over the purchasing and processing. The coffee is bought in cherry at a significant premium to the general market, and sorted carefully, providing farmers with feedback about best practices in picking.

This is a new, small project that so far serves around 50 smallholders within Moses' village and the neighboring villages, but we see a lot of promise based on the cup quality and ingenuity of the venture.

Most of the coffee in Papua New Guinea is processed as Washed lots, and generally speaking, because of the very small size of the average farm, it is done at central processing units or washing stations that are privately or cooperatively owned and operated. The coffee is picked ripe and typically depulped the same day, then fermented for 24-48 hours before being washed clean of mucilage. Drying is typically done on tarpaulins or raised beds.

In the contemporary global coffee industry, Papua New Guinea is wholly unique both in how coffee is harvested and exported from the country. While there are some estates and plantations, most coffee production comes from smallholder farmers, each with around 1 to 2 hectares of land called "gardens" on which they grow small amounts of coffee along with whatever else a family or community might need for use or sale.

Removing any cherry that is not fully ripe

Sourcing coffee in Papua New Guinea poses unique logistical, cultural, and linguistic challenges. The country's many indigenous populations are often very distinct from one another in terms of custom and language, and individual communities might comprise only a few hundred people, making communication and the cultural sensitivity required to do business here more difficult than in other coffee-growing regions. Less than 10 percent of the population is connected to or uses the Internet for communications, and there are roughly 55 telephones (both fixed-line and cellular) for every 100 people.

• Country:  Papua New Guinea
• Region: Kabiufa
  
• Farm:  Riverside Mill
• Elevation: 1750 meters
• Processing:  Fully washed
  
• Drying:  Sun on raised African beds
• Harvest:  May - September
  

Cup Characteristics:  Lots of dark chocolate aroma and flavors with the additional flavors of mild fruit, honey and candy. Sturdy, earthy, viscous body.  A refined PNG with significant complexity and interest.

Roasting Notes: We've been stopping this roast just before the start of second crack. We find this roast level has significant body but the notable hickory notes are present as is the acidity. The coffee is capable of being roasted slightly darker as well, into second crack. On a Behmor try P2 or P3.