Papua New Guinea
Our latest South East Asian Coffee offering is from Sigri Estate in the Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Coffee production in PNG is 85-90% smallholder coffees. Coffee, almost entirely, follows the same chain
of custody: smallholder to cherry buyer to miller to exporter to importer to roaster. Coffee that changes hands so frequently can be problematic, leaving the smallholders vulnerable to exploitation, making even a basic level of traceability impossible, and often times quality is sacrificed in the process.
Sigri Coffee Estate is one of the very few “single estates” in Papua New Guinea. From the nursery to the loading container, even holding their own in-house export license, the estate personally manages the entire production process. This enables protection of estate pickers, consistent quality, and possibilities to experiment.
This enables protection of estate pickers, consistent quality, and possibilities to experiment. Ultimately, the connection of coffee producers to end consumers has allowed for complete traceability and social responsibility of all parties.
Soil and water conservation are a priority to Sigri and the estate is bird and eco-friendly. Sigri employs a medium density shade strategy, using two types of shade trees to promotes even ripening of coffee cherries while providing a habitat for at least 90 species of birds.
Sigri coffees are washed Arabica coffees that undergo a rigorous wet-mill factory process. Quality Control begins in the field; Cherries are hand-picked and carefully checked for ripeness and uniformity which allows for the correct balance of sugar and acid within the cherry. The selected cherries are pulped on the day of picking, followed by a 3-day fermentation process which is broken every 24 hours by washing. Unlike other coffees in the region, the Sigri process follows this by total immersion in water for a further day. This allows for a balanced flavor. After sun-drying, the coffees are carefully conditioned for 21 days, followed by destoning, hulling, grading, densitometric sorting, color sorting, and finally hand sorting.
“Kula” is a term used exclusively by this coffee producer, which refers to special processing guidelines. The “Kula” coffees are dried on raised beds and go
through two rounds of color-sorts and two rounds of hand-sorts. This extra processing creates one of the cleanest PNG coffees being produced today.
We typically find that coffees from the Asia/South Pacific growing region are able to withstand a darker roast in order to achieve it's peak flavor. In this carefully roasted Peaberry coffee, you'll find the traditional bold flavor of a SE Asian coffee. We tasted hints of roasted bell pepper, Agave sweet notes, and tangy hints of tamarind. This is the ideal coffee for a French Press, but tastes amazing on a pour-over as well. Brew at 200-202 degrees to get the best flavor possible.
Variety: Typica Peaberry
Altitude: 1600 masl
Processing: Fully washed and dried on raised beds
Roast: Medium-Dark