Papua New Guinea Kindeng

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 one-two 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. 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% 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.

This coffee comes from the Kindeng Dry Mill, located in the Jikawa province of Papua New Guinea. The average farm size of producers in this area is about 1-2 hectares, and the soil is generally sandy loam and loamy clay.

Naturally-processed coffees from Papua New Guinea are quite rare. When it comes to this process, only the ripest cherries are used as the amount of time necessary to dry these coffee lots fully is extensive. After cherries are harvested, they are hand sorted and placed on raised beds for an average period of 3-4 weeks until fully dried. During this time, the cherries are moved by hand on a regular basis to ensure an even moisture content throughout the lot.