Papua New Guinea - Arufa Natural

Papua New Guinea Arufa Natural Tasting Notes: Notes of Cherry Liqueur, Dark Chocolate, Cola Nut A fresh take on an fruit forward, natural processed coffee from Papua New Guinea Longform Taste Description: Vibrant red berry, citrus, and muddled fruit make up the opening of this coffee. The red fruit notes combine with notes of fermentation and dark chocolate to create a flavor similar to a cherry liqueur. The fruit notes become more prominent as the cup cools, but the cooling cup also reveals the more herbaceous overtones characteristic of Papua New Guinean coffees, particularly cacao nibs, cola nut, marshmallow, and pipe tobacco. Producer Notes: We’re incredibly happy to have another natural processed Papua New Guinean (PNG) coffee. We’ve been able to feature a relatively high number of coffees from Papua New Guinea over the past several years, which we attribute largely to the confluence of great coffee genetics, excellent terroir, and a renaissance in coffee processing. Widespread coffee production began in the early 1900’s in PNG and a huge portion of the coffee grown in PNG has its roots in the varieties of coffee brought in by missionaries during a period of time when bourbon and typica were exceedingly popular. Blue mountain, so popularized as to reach near synonymity with Jamaica, is one of the earlier Bourbon/Typica hybrids and is widely cultivated on PNG. Mundo Novo and Arusha are typica/bourbon hybrids that also produce excellent cups and were brought to PNG in the 1950’s. A lack of infrastructure held back the quality of coffee in PNG for most of the century following the introduction of these excellent varieties, but that has changed in recent years, which has allowed for the quality of the genetic stock to really shine. This lot of coffee is unique in that natural processes from Papua New Guinea are few and far between as the cool wet climate in the Papua New Guinea highlands is not conducive to drying coffee with the fruit intact. This coffee was dried for a full month before being prepared for export. The drying process is the last step in the process of selecting only the highest quality coffee cherries from smallholder farmers. Brew Notes: We recommend using around a 1:15 brew ratio for this coffee. To highlight the fruit notes, it is best to use water around 200-202F for no longer than three and a half minutes. Coffee Details: Varieties: Blue Mountain, Arusha, Mundo Novo, Bourbon Processing Method: Natural Process, Sun Dried on Raised Beds Producer: 600 Smallholder farmers supplying the Kagamuga Dry Mill Altitude: 5000-5800’ Above Sea Level Social Media Post: A remarkable fresh, fruity, natural process Papua New Guinean coffee Label: Vibrant red berry, citrus, and muddled fruit make up the opening of this coffee. The red fruit notes combine with notes of fermentation and dark chocolate to create a flavor similar to a cherry liqueur. The fruit notes become more prominent as the cup cools, but the cooling cup also reveals the more herbaceous overtones characteristic of Papua New Guinean coffees, particularly cacao nibs, cola nut, marshmallow, and pipe tobacco. We’re incredibly happy to have this coffee back after featuring it in our July 2023 Tasting Club. We feel that the fresh crop of this coffee preserves the essence of what we loved in the previous crop, but is also distinct and unique in a way that we prefer. While the previous crop was a bit bombastic in its delivery of fruit and fermentation notes, this crop is more mellow, albeit still not subtle. We love to follow the journey of coffee producers we partner with for multiple years and see the progression of their coffees as they innovate and refine their techniques to produce ever better coffee. This lot of coffee is particularly unique in that natural processes from Papua New Guinea are few and far between as the cool wet climate in the Papua New Guinea highlands is not conducive to drying coffee with the fruit intact. This coffee was dried for a full month before being prepared for export. The drying process is the last step in the process of selecting only the highest quality coffee cherries from smallholder farmers. Typically, the best lots of coffee from Papua New Guinea come from vertically integrated coffee plantations that can control the process step by step. There is a larger volume of coffee, usually of poorer quality, sold by smallholder farmers to wet mills and then sold at commodity or below market prices. Jiwaka Natural is the literal fruit of a long collaborative effort to increase the quality of cherries harvested by smallholder farmers and show that with the right care, the climactic and genetic potential of Papua New Guinea’s coffee is quite high.