Papua New Guinea Coffee

You may not see or know Papua New Guinea as an important country in the coffee world, as only 1% of the global arabica beans supply comes from there, but Papua New Guinea coffee is on the rise after decades filled with challenges.

Papua New Guinea coffees are mainly grown naturally because farmers cannot afford expensive synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The result is coffee that’s naturally lower in caffeine, which makes it attractive to people who prefer a lower caffeine level.

Papua New Guinea coffee is popular with coffee lovers who prefer fruity coffees with low acidity and a syrupy mouthfeel - and who want to have a relationship with where their coffee comes from, which often isn't possible in countries that mass-produce coffee beans.

In this article, we look at the history of Papua New Guinea coffee, what it tastes like, what coffee from the main coffee regions tastes like, how to roast it, how to brew it, and which coffee bean varieties are the most common.

Papua New Guinea is a fairly young coffee country compared to countries like Brazil or Ethiopia, which grew coffee hundreds of years ago.

The first official document mentioning Papua New Guinea coffee dates back to 1890, while commercial production of coffee only took off in the 1920s when Blue Mountain coffee beans were introduced to the country. Before then, coffee was mainly grown on an experimental basis or for botanical interests. 

In the mid-20th century, coffee slowly started spreading in Papua New Guinea. In the 1950s, Australians introduced the washed processing method to Papua New Guinea, slowly replacing the Indonesian wet-hulling method in many places and resulting in cleaner flavor profiles.

For a long time, there was a clear distinction between coffees produced by plantations and estates with wet mills and coffees produced by tribal groups who used processing methods that were seen as primitive.

The PNG Coffee Industry Corporation was founded in 1963. It was initially called the Papua New Guinea Coffee Marketing Board. Its role is to buy and sell coffee, set coffee prices, and monitor the export of Papua New Guinea coffee.

In the 1970s, Brazil’s coffee production suffered because of frost. This led to an increased demand for PNG coffee. 

In 1986, the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) was founded as a PNG Coffee Industry Corporation division to ensure that smallholders, estates, coffee gardens, and plantations meet international standards and produce coffee sustainably. The CRI also helped farmers to become economically viable.

Only in the last few decades did the industry in Papua New Guinea change, with big coffee estates now being the minority, while smaller farms and tribal farms produce most of PNG's coffee and use centralized mills to process their beans. Only very few PNG farms are not owned by local individuals or tribal associations.

Papua New Guinea coffee farmers face many challenges today, and coffee production has declined since the 1990s. However, coffee lovers are realizing how delicious PNG coffee can be - even though getting your hand on one can be a little challenging. 

The main challenges Papua New Guinea coffee farmers have to deal with are the bad infrastructure and regular raids by bandits. Some farmers lose up to half of their harvest in these raids. 

Papua New Guinea’s first National Coffee Symposium and Expo in 2019 was the first time people from various stages of the industry came together and committed to making a positive change.

When it comes to flavor and aroma, Papua New Guinea coffee is usually separated into two different groups.

A and B-graded coffees come from centralized mills and are considered top specialty coffees. Their flavors range from stone fruit to black currant and ripe citrus with some notes of chocolate. These chocolate notes range from dark chocolate with a hint of raisin to crisp cocoa notes.

While floral notes are usually very subtle, they remind you of dusk-blooming flowers or lilies. These Papua New Guinea coffees tend to be mild with a delicate sweetness and a gentle acidity.

Y-graded coffees are considered lower quality because they're coffees from various smallholders thrown together to make up a bigger bulk of coffee beans. These coffees tend to be on the rustic side and can come in various flavors, but you'll usually notice a fruity, fermented flavor with earthy notes.

It is best to decide which roast level to use for Papua New Guinea coffee beans based on each coffee, but as a general rule, a medium roast or medium-dark roast is best suited for most Papua New Guinea coffees.

A medium roast will preserve some of the beans’ original flavors without overpowering them. It will produce a light and lively acidity.

A medium-dark or a dark roast will give you a bold, rich-up of coffee, but you won't taste much of the finer flavor notes. A dark roast draws out nutty and chocolatey flavors, which drown out everything else.

Papua New Guinea is a small island country with a great coffee-growing climate. Combine this with nutrient-dense soil, and you get some great single-origin coffees. 

Most coffee is grown on small plantations in three major coffee-growing regions, though well over a dozen of the country's regions grow coffee in small quantities. 

There are also coffee gardens, sometimes called peasant patches, because they are run by "peasants" who only grew a few dozen to a few hundred coffee trees.

Waghi Valley 

Altitude: 1,200 to 1,700 meters above sea level

Varieties: Mainly Typica and Bourbon

Flavor Profile: A cup of Papua New Guinea coffee made with beans grown in Waghi Valley is generally a medium to full-bodied coffee with a bright and clean taste. This region's coffee tends to have complex flavors with notes of citrus, floral, and fruity undertones.

Good to know: Recently, coffee from the Waghi Valley has gained recognition in the specialty coffee market. This encouraged farmers to keep working on introducing sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.

Eastern Highlands

Altitude:1,200 to 1,800 masl  

Varieties: Mainly Typica and Arusha

Flavor Profile: Coffee grown here tends to have a lively acidity and medium body. Flavors include notes of bright citrus and floral hints. You'll also notice a pleasant, fruity aroma.

Good to know: This region has a comparably good infrastructure, unlike other regions. There is reasonably good road access to Goroka, its markets, and Papua New Guinea's largest port city, Lae.

Simbu Valley

Altitude: 1,400 to 1,800 masl 

Varieties: Mainly Typica and Bourbon

Flavor Profile: Simbu Valley coffees are bold with a full body and a balanced acidity. You get a well-balanced, complex cup with flavors that usually include dark chocolate, spice, and earthy undertones.

Good to know: Recently (September 2023), a 42-meter footbridge was opened to help coffee farmers in the Gumine District of Simbu to bring their coffee from their farms to the roadside. While this doesn’t seem like great infrastructure to other countries, it’s a huge improvement for local farmers.

Papua New Guinea Coffee Varietals

Typica

Typica is an old and well-known arabica variety. These beans are grown in many regions of PNG, but especially in the highlands. These beans are well-loved because they make a delicious full-bodied cup with mild acidity and a nuanced flavor profile with floral, fruity, and sometimes nutty or cocoa notes. This bean is also the base for newer varieties grown in PNG.

Bourbon

Like Typica, Bourbon is older and well-known. These beans aren't widespread in PNG but are valued because of their high-quality flavor profile and lively acidity. Flavors depend much on how the beans are roasted and can range from fruity to nutty and chocolatey with hints of spices.

Arusha

Arusha is one bean variety derived from Typica. It is mainly grown at high altitudes, especially in the Eastern Highlands. These beans have a bright acidity with citrus, floral, and fruity notes.

Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain was one of the first coffee varieties introduced to PNG in the early 20th century. Today, PNG has its own version of Blue Mountain beans, which is different from the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee but also has a mild and well-balanced flavor profile with floral notes and a clean, sweet finish.

Catimor  

Catimor is a hybrid of Caturra and Timor that was created to help farmers who regularly lost coffee plants to diseases and pests. While these beans aren't grown as much as others, they helped PNG to improve the country's coffee landscape. Catimor beans come in different varieties, and flavors range from earthy to nutty, depending on the specific hybrid.

The majority of Papua New Guinea coffee is wet-processed (or washed). In this processing method, the coffee beans are extracted from the coffee cherries, and only the sweet, sticky mucilage is left around the bean.

The beans are then fermented for some time. After fermentation, the washing process follows. This ensures that the bean is completely “naked” before it is dried.

In Waghi Valley, some farms use the honey-processed method, which results in some interesting coffees with melon and berry flavors and a honey aftertaste. The difference to the washed process is that the beans aren't fermented but are dried with the mucilage on them and then washed.

While you can use your favorite brewing method for Papua New Guinea coffee, you’ll get the best out of these beans if you use a French Press or a steel-filter drip coffee maker (this is just like a normal filter coffee machine but with a steel filter). 

The reason is that Papua New Guinea coffee is usually very oily and has a medium to full body. A French Press or steel-filter coffee maker can take the most advantage of these characteristics.