PAPUA NEW GUINEA KABIUFA | March 2024

This March we are thrilled to bring you an exciting coffee sourced at origin in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea by our coffee trainer Ryan Howell.

Ryan was able to visit Moses Venapoe of Riverside Coffee and spend time with the growers, and we can’t thank them all enough for the warm welcome his hosts provided. Moses has kicked off a small revolution in the coffee growing community of Kabiufa and it’s an exciting time for us to be involved.

After attending a series of workshops on best practices by an exporter working in Papua New Guinea, Moses decided in 2019 to lead the charge in creating a process wherein local coffee growers would be recognised for high quality, rewarded with fair pricing and put to market as a unique coffee growing origin.

This was a far cry from the practices around Kabiufa at the time, where coffee beans were submitted anonymously at roadside weigh stations and sold as unnamed bulk lots. He brought together a network of 50 smallholder producers, and took only the best coffee cherries from each, before processing them at his wet mill, Riverside Coffee.

Five years down the track, Moses and his community have come together to produce an extraordinary coffee, with a note of honey sweetness running through from the aroma to the finish. Aromatics of cedar and coffee pulp (the fruit coffee seeds grow in) add to the sweetness and depth.

Blueberry, orange, and milk chocolate flavours combine in the cup to create an overall impression of soft sweetness, with layers of flavour developing as the coffee cools. The aftertaste of lemon zest gives the finish a tiny kick, a beautiful counterbalance to the honey note.

COFFEE ORIGIN PROFILE

Country: Papua New Guinea
Region: Eastern Highlands
Farm: 50 smallholders, processed by Riverside Coffee
Varietals: mixed
Process: washed
Altitude: 1750m above sea level.

KABIUFA TASTING NOTES

Papua New Guinea Kabiufa has a lovely note of honey running through from the aroma to the finish. Aromatics of cedar and coffee pulp (the fruit coffee seeds grow in) add to the complexity and depth.

Blueberry, orange, and milk chocolate flavours combine in the cup to create an overall impression of soft sweetness, with layers of flavour developing as the coffee cools. The aftertaste of lemon zest gives the finish a tiny kick, a beautiful counterbalance to the persistent sweetness of the honey note.

KABIUFA BREW RECOMMENDATIONS

Honey, blueberry, orange and milk chocolate notes mean the Papua New Guinea Kabiufa suits all styles of brewing. In this writer’s opinion, PNG is a sleeping giant of specialty coffee, underrated and underrepresented with a lot of amazing flavour to offer.

If you like an espresso-based drink, that will amp up the chocolate flavour giving you a warm and rich base to a latte, flat white or cappuccino. The Kabiufa has been impeccably processed, so it’s nice and clean with minimal bitterness, even if you’re leaning towards a long black.

For all our filter-loving friends, give the Kabiufa the pourover treatment and you’ll enjoy the juicy blueberry, orange and lemon zest mingling sweetly with the honey and milk chocolate. Aeropress is always good for extra body, but you’ll be trading the orange in for a deeper honey flavour. However you have it, treat it with care and we promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

CUPPING OVERVIEW

Score: 85.5
Aroma: honey, coffee pulp, cedar
Flavour: honey, blueberry, orange, milk chocolate
Acidity: juicy
Body: layered
Aftertaste: lemon zest.