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            The elevations can span from 1,000
        meters to upwards of 2,600 meters con-
        taining rich, volcanic soil in certain
        regions. While this type of elevation
        certainly contributes to the superior
        quality of the coffee, it makes transport
        to mills as well as ports extremely chal-
        lenging. PNG is one of the few countries
        that uses small prop planes for trans-
        porting parchment from the farms to the
        mills. You can imagine the costs this can
        add to production!
            Though  it’s  difficult  to pinpoint
        precisely what varieties of Arabica are
        grown, it’s common to find Typica, Bour-  Grading System
        bon, Arusha, Blue Mountain, and Mundo
        Novo varieties/cultivars. The most com-  PNG Washed coffee has found a
        mon processing method is washed. Small-  global home among some of the top cof-
        holders pulp fresh coffee, ferment either   fee companies in the world. Most people
        in  dry  boxes  or  submerged  underwater,   would be surprised to find out that many
        wash, and then sun dry. It’s very common   of your mainstream quality brands con-
        to sell parchment to local dry mills at   tain some amount of washed coffee from
        elevated moisture levels (roughly 13-17   Papua New Guinea in their blends. It has
        per cent), or sell fresh coffee fruit to wet   become a staple for many companies as it
        mills for centralized processing.   is a fantastic blend component. And many   [1] Maximum Defect
                                                                                                                                                                             Raw
                                                                                                                                                               [1] Maximum
            PNG coffee hit its peak around the   of the plantation coffees are world-re-  Allowed (Equivalent       Grade             Cup Quality             Defect Allowed   Bean Color  Odor      Bean Size
        1960s and 1970s but saw a decline in   nowned for their high quality.     defect per KG)
        quality and volume beginning around the   Traditionally, PNG coffee has been   [2] Whole and nipped          A   Full, reasonably balanced, uniform, clean cup; well pronounced   10  Bluish   Fresh and   Displayed as a suffx.
        late 1980s. As the large plantations were   sold under three main grades: Plantation   beans should constitute   body and acidity; rich and distinct fragrance and aroma  Green  clean,   If a specified screen
                                                                                  more than 50%. No
                                                                                                                                                                                                   size is designated
        broken up and distributed to local farm-  (PLT), Premium Smallholder Coffee   foreign matter. Must be                                                                           no off     the coffee must be
                                                                                                                                                                                        odors
        ers, coffee leaf rust, tribal conflict, finan-  (PSC), and Y-grade. These grades were   fit for human        B   Regular, uniform clean cup; medium to high acidity and   30  Even, green to   allowed  uniform in size
                                                                                                                             pronounced body; rich fragrance and aroma
                                                                                                                                                                          bluish green
        cial  mismanagement,  lack of  support   then identified by size through the use of   consumption                                                                                          above designated
        services  for  smallholders,  and  lack  of   AA, A, Ax, B, and C. Therefore, it was                                                                                                        screen size. No
        access to markets further contributed to   common to find grades such as PSC Ax or                           Y   May lack some uniformity in the cup; good acidity and body;   70  Pale green   Clean/fresh,   suffx means the
                                                                                                                           some fruitiness/ wineyness; good fragrance and aroma  to green  some fruitiness  coffee is mixed size.
        the decline in quality and volume. Though   PLT A. However, CIC introduced a new
        the industry suffered setbacks throughout   grading system in 2019 that will eventual-                            Irregular cup profile; fair acidity and body; no foul or   Mixed light
        the 1990s, the last two decades have seen   ly become the new standard for grading.                          Y2               foreign flavor              150     green to green  No foul
        wonderful strides made in quality and   Under this new grading system,                                                                                                           or            Mixed
        progress in the PNG coffee industry,   coffees will be sold as Grade A, B, or Y,                                                                                               foreign
                                                                                                                                                                                        odors
        largely due to the work of the Coffee In-  and then a screen size number indicating                          Y3            No foul or foreign flavor      [2]       Mixed
        dustry Corporation (CIC) and other gov-  the size. The table beside outlines the
        ernment efforts.                    definition of the new standards:
                                                                                                                    Source: “Papua New Guinea Implements New Coffee Grading Standards” by Mick Wheeler in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal July/August 2019 edition.

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