Description
Before we found some personal friends in Papua New Guinea, this is the coffee we used to rely on. Awesome folks even though at the time we had never met them. One of the few Estate produced coffees (a bit smaller than Carpenter) and located just a couple miles down the road.
A couple years back times were rough with Kimel, PNG is a tribal land and not all the tribes get along all the time. To have an estate in PNG means you have to have an open environment between the tribes living/working on or near the estate. Unfortunately Kimel had a rough couple of years due to some tribal conflicts and coffee production and quality wavered pretty good. This is when we started working direct with Carpenter Estates and found some absolute gems. When I got this years Kimel PB sample though some friends, we couldn’t help but to pick it up. Great screen, clean cup profile. A bit milder and sweeter than Sigri.
To learn more about PNG’s unusual coffee industry, check out our recent blog article “The Wild West of Coffee Production.”
Tasting Notes:
Full bodied, medium to low acidity and a clean cup. Lighter side of medium roasting to as dark as you want to go. Perfect example of what a premium PNG should taste like. Smooth chocolate, bigger body and lower acidity. Hard not to enjoy this cup. Lighter roasts are a little crisper and sweeter, hints of a lemony acidity. Not quite as hefty as the darker roasts but slightly more exotic, a little soft fruit tone with lingering floral notes. Medium and beyond roasts bring out a bigger body and stronger chocolaty tones, turns a bit more semi-sweet as one gets real close to 2nd crack. Adds some complimenting roasty/smoky notes as you get towards second crack or beyond. A great thicker and darker toned cup like a Sumatra but without all the earthiness!
Roasting Notes:
Although traditionally PNG coffees are taken a little darker. We thought a nice medium roast fit this coffee nicely. Smooth, sweet and more down the milk chocolate alley with a bit of setup. A little hint of acidity lighter but with a 3-5 day setup, it will be gone. Darker roasts work great with this bean but turn it stronger, loses its delicate tones and shows more Indo style tones into 2nd crack.
sandranbob (verified owner) –
I’m usually aiming for coffee roasted around the beginning of the 2nd crack and have really liked all I’ve tried from PNG. Since this one was described as being good from light to dark, I decided to try it on the light side of medium. It was terrific and offering quite a different flavor from the darker roasts. Now I’ll struggle to determine which way to roast the rest… probably a little of each.