Papua New Guinea

  PROCESS: WashedVARIETY: Arusha, Bourbon, TypicaELEVATION: 1,400-1,900 metersROAST: MediumBODY: SmoothNOTES: Mellow pecan flavors with acidy acidity and mild sweetness. In the contemporary global coffee industry, Papua New Guinea is wholly unique both in how coffee is harvested and exported from the country. While there are some estates and plantations, most coffee production comes from smallholder farmers, each with around 1–2 hectares of land called “gardens” on which they grow small amounts of coffee along with whatever else a family or community might need for use or sale. Sourcing coffee in Papua New Guinea poses unique logistical, cultural, and linguistic challenges. The country’s many indigenous populations are often very distinct from one another in terms of custom and language, and individual communities might comprise only a few hundred people, making communication and the cultural sensitivity required to do business here more difficult than in other coffee-growing regions.