Papua New Guinea

Highland arabica from smallholder 'coffee gardens' dominates, with a smaller estate sector. Cups tend toward medium body, modest acidity and fruity notes.

Papua New Guinea's coffee industry is dominated by smallholders: an estimated 280,000 smallholder growers work small 'coffee gardens', with holdings as modest as 20 trees alongside subsistence crops, next to about 660 larger farmers and 65 large plantations. Smallholders now account for over 85% of national production, after plantation output declined in the 1980s and production shifted to local small farmers. The history has several strands. Per Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) history, coffee was grown in German New Guinea at Ralum, near Kokopo in East New Britain, in the late 1800s (the planter Emma Coe Forsayth, known as 'Queen Emma', is named), and large commercial robusta plantations flourished in East New Britain and Bougainville between 1920 and 1930. In Papua, Catholic missionaries on Yule Island and around Tapini may have introduced arabica in 1885, and a coffee estate was planted at Warirata outside Port Moresby by 1897. The highlands arabica industry traces to Wau in Morobe: arabica planted there in 1928 at a colonial experimental station was sold in 1931 to Carl L. B. Wilde, and a research station established at Aiyura in 1937 planted the first highlands coffee from seed sourced from the Wau plantation, then distributed seed across the highlands. Importer Sucafina says Wilde renamed the plantation Blue Mountain Coffee, and Wikipedia dates the first planting of Jamaican Blue Mountain seed to 1926-27. About 95% of production is washed highland arabica and the remaining 5% is lowland robusta. Around 90% of output comes from five highland provinces: Western Highlands (45%), Eastern Highlands (37%), Simbu (6%), Morobe (5%) and East Sepik (5%). The CIC began as the Coffee Marketing Board in 1963 (operating from 1964), became the Coffee Industry Board in 1976, and has its head office in Goroka. It controls coffee dealers, processors and exporters, and certifies export consignments on defects, bean size, odor and liquoring characteristics. Wikipedia reports that most coffee sold to North America comes from estates in the Western and Eastern Highlands, mainly Sigri and Arona respectively, and names 'Village Premium Morobe' as a well-established Morobe coffee.

CIC export grades run AA, A and X for estate coffee and PSC (Premium Smallholder Coffee) and Y for smallholder coffee, and the CIC says almost half of rural households take part in growing and harvesting coffee.

History

Coffee reached PNG in separate waves. CIC history records coffee at Ralum, East New Britain, under German administration in the late 1800s, possible Catholic mission arabica plantings on Yule Island and around Tapini in 1885, and an estate at Warirata near Port Moresby by 1897. Large robusta plantations flourished in East New Britain and Bougainville from 1920 to 1930. The highlands industry began with arabica planted at Wau in 1928 and sold to Carl L. B. Wilde in 1931, whose plantation supplied seed to the Aiyura research station from 1937. By 1935 Wilde was selling roast and ground coffee domestically and overseas. The Coffee Marketing Board (1963, operating from 1964) became the Coffee Industry Board in 1976 and later the Coffee Industry Corporation. Plantation production declined through the 1980s and smallholders, now over 85% of output, took over.