Description
This lot comes from smallholder farmers organized around the Kuta mill in the Tambul-Nebilyer district. The Leahy family, one of the region’s best-known coffee-growing families, has been part of the modern history of the Nebilyer Valley for generations, building infrastructure that helps farmers transport coffee from remote highland plots to processing plants for export.
Each producer cultivates coffee on 1 to 2 hectares of land. The coffee is fully washed and sun dried at the Kuta mill, which has been in operation for over 40 years. The Kuta mill operates between the Ulga and Kolga tribes and has become a place of common ground for producers who have traditionally been in conflict because of tribal differences. The mill owner, Brian Leahy, makes a bonus payment after the harvest to farmers who consistently deliver quality cherries.
I met Brian at the Mount Hagen club on my adventures, a night I will never forget. This guy was one of the most knowledgeable coffee people I met on my journeys. Lots of smart coffee folk in PNG but many have trouble sticking with it after finding success. A very different life and culture growing coffee in PNG and working with the tribes. He had previously managed Kimel Estate and now runs his own mill. This is one of his top lots, wonderful and differentiates itself nicely from the estate coffees.
Tasting Notes: Bright citrus notes (lemon and mandarin) predominate, with a distinctive herbal and aromatic character, along with a soft, warm spice (clove) and a floral touch. As the brew cools, it develops a deeper sweetness and a dark chocolate structure, highlighting caramel and peanut tones.
Roasting Notes: This coffee is easy to roast, with a wide margin of tolerance. We recommend a medium to dark roast, which is where this coffee truly shines. Medium-light to medium roasts preserve the citrus and floral aromas while developing enough sweetness for the chocolate base to be clearly perceptible. With darker roasts, the chocolate and spice notes intensify, and the herbal notes take on a more savory character; it’s simply a matter of controlling the roasting process after the first crack to ensure the profile that best suits your taste, with more pronounced spice notes and good acidity, along with hints of almond in a light roast, a balance between acidity and tea notes in a medium roast, and sacrificing some acidity in a dark roast but gaining more body, sweetness, and spicy notes.
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