The Region
Eastern Highlands Province is the largest coffee-producing province in Papua New Guinea, with an average altitude of between 1,100 and 2,000 meters above sea level. Farmers grow coffee using traditional methods, mostly without the use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. They are smallholder farmers with an average land area of 0.5 hectares.
Growing Coffee in Papua New Guinea
Although PNG has often produced more than 1 million bags of coffee annually, the average has dropped below 1 million over the last 10 years. The vast majority of coffee in PNG (95%) is grown in the highland regions near the center of the country. These coffee exhibit the heavy body characteristic of this part of the world along with the savory sweet flavors. Coffee from PNG is graded using a unique matrix that reflects not only screen size but bean shape, defect count, and color in addition to aroma and cup quality with A/X, being the highest quality available.