Papua New Guinea - Wahgi Valley

Herbacious and candy-like, with notes centered around its limey acidity, dried fig and pecan-like sweetness, and a finish with fresh rosemary.

About the Farm

Kimel, an estate located in the town of Banz near Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea, has a long history of producing exceptional quality island coffee, and the new crop is no exception. 

The country of Papua New Guinea comprises the eastern half of the New Guinea island (the western half is part of the country of Indonesia) that rests like a disjoined puzzle piece off the northern coast of Australia. Commercial coffee production began in earnest in the region in the late 1920s, and is now the country’s second most important agricultural export after palm oil. 

Kimel plantation was first established in 1974 by an Australian, Bobby Gibbs. However, in 1979 the farm was purchased by Kishan Pau and Pup Kaki, representing a collaboration of local landowners, the Opais being the main tribe. Although locally owned, the plantation is managed by expatriate personnel, appointed by the local directors with extensive experience in plantation management. 

The plantation has a permanent workforce of 432 and they are housed on the estate, which also provides schooling for the children and medical facilities for the workforce and their dependents. Clean running water has been made available to the estate workers by way of a community project financed by one of their overseas clients, and its implementation is overseen by the estate’s management. 

Since the estate is located along the Kimel River, from which it derived its name, it has access to good, clean water for the processing of its crop, which is a prerequisite along with sound husbandry and dedicated management to continually create quality coffees. The estate’s management also implements some ecology-friendly policies with regard to environmental issues, such as the recycling of pulp which is returned to the fields as organic fertilizer, and the recycling of water used during the wet processing. The cultivation is conducted under shade trees, like albizias and gravilleas.