KONGO, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Origins of Coffee in Papua New Guinea

 Papua New Guinea coffee plantations were first planted 120 years ago. Historical records attribute the arrival of coffee to New Guinea as a result of German settlers bringing the crop to the island. By 1899, Arabica coffee bushes were showing that they liked the unique climate of New Guinea. However, the industry did not start picking up momentum until the 1920’s, when improvements in shipping contributed to coffee more easily being exported. Now Papua New Guinea has coffee plantations in 15 out of 19 provinces, and coffee export is one of the nation’s strongest industries.

Newly upgraded standards : 

Newly upgraded standards for coffee grown in Papua New Guinea will help the industry there grade coffee to meet buyers’ exacting requirements and simplify, describe and define the cup profile for all buyers of Papua New Guinea coffee.

For many, Papua New Guinea is a country which is shrouded in mystery, a forgotten place, and an exciting land, rich in history, exotic wildlife and equally exotic tribes with strange mysterious customs and a unique primitive culture.

Papua New Guinea is all these things but it is also a thriving modern country which has embraced the 21^st century and everything modern with an overwhelming passion, yet does so while retaining many links to the past. It is also blessed with rich fertile volcanic soils which are ideal for a host of tropical products including cocoa, coconuts, oil palm, spices and rubber. However, it is world famous for its coffee, a coffee with unique cupping characteristics, good acidity, body and excellent flavour as well as aroma. When roasters discover Papua New Guinea coffee, it quickly becomes an established feature within their range, both as an integral part of many of their blends as well as one of their outstanding single origin coffees.

Coffee is an important commodity in Papua New Guinea, making a significant contribution to the country’s export revenue earnings, as well as giving employment to more than 400,000 Papua New Guineans involved in all aspects of the industry, all of whom derive all or part of their income from coffee.

Given the importance of coffee to Papua New Guinea, the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) decided to undertake a major review of the country’s quality standards to determine whether they are suitable and appropriate for the current and projected future demands of the international market – the aim being to provide the Papua New Guinea coffee industry with the most appropriate framework within which it could maximise the returns to all parts of the value chain.

Quality grades and standards, governing the export of coffee from Papua New Guinea, were first established when the bulk of production was produced on expatriate owned and managed estates. Coffee grades were determined essentially as a function of bean size, defect count, bean shape, odour and very rudimentary descriptions of liquoring characteristics, which at the time actually suited both the internal and external industry extremely well. Adjustments were made in the late 1960s and 1970s to account for the growing importance of smallholder coffee, but at the time all smallholder produced coffee was lumped together under one blanket grade, nominated as Y. Coffee beans from Kongo was the among the top grade coffee in Papua New Guinea. 

COFFEE PROFILE :

Country: Papua New Guinea

Region: Kongo

Altitude: 1500 - 1900 m.

Species: Arabica

Varietal: Mixed

Process: Washed