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C

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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