PNG - Kigibah Estate Grade A
Black cherry, tobaco/sweet spice, wild. Good body. Especially with cream this coffee can have a chocolate/ black cherry quality.

New Guinea is an island second in size only to Greenland and is found directly north of Australia. Half the island is Papua New Guinea (to the East ) and the other half is Western New Guinea is located... you guessed it - to the west. Its a political division that runs directly North South. The east became a sovereign country in 1975 (it was a territory of Australia) while the west formerly colonized by the Dutch is today a province of Indonesia. The Dutch seemed to have colonized just about everything everywhere at some point, didn't they?

While some coffee farming existed prior, probably by the late 1800s, it was the Australians under a government program that really got it going in the 1960's. The 70's brought transition and by the 80's farming is distributed between estates and small holders. Organic certifications began in the 90's. And while only some of the coffee is certified organic, most of it really is organic just due to practicality. PNG is rough terrain. Although some coffee and supplies are collected in small planes that land and take off on small strips. Its can't all travel that way. Its one thing carrying your cash crop down hill to market. But you've got to really want something a lot to carry it all the way up, about a whole day's trip. Nasty chemicals are just not on that list. So, traditional farming and the natural environment wins out.

Shade canopies are an essential element to organic farming in PNG. The same shade tree are often used as a secondary crop, for instance bananas or papaya. Closer to the ground vegetables are grown to act as ground cover, aiding in weed control and acting as a natural fertilizer.

Harvesting occurs between March and August followed by processing, drying, and export. Some of the coffee stock in PNG came from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region. Other varieties are bourbon and Arusha from Kenya/Tanzania. Arusha s a city in Northern Tanzania. Small world.

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Kigibah Estate itself is in the Waghi Valley in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Mount Hagen is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and this area is a cool climate with fertile land lots of rain rainfall. (As a point of reference PNG Kimel (Kimel Estate) is in the Eastern Highland.) Kigibah estate produced this A grade coffee, the highest grade for PNG beans.