Papua New Guinea – Kimel Estate A

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 of beans. When I got this years Kimel AA sample though some friends, we couldn’t help but to pick it up. Great screen, super clean cup profile. A bit milder and sweeter than last years Sigri. Plus it got here earlier, our Carpenter Estate beans are still a week or two away.

To learn more about PNG’s unusual coffee industry, check out our recent blog article “The Wild West of Coffee Production.”

Tasting Notes: Thick and creamy, low acidity with a pretty strong spicy bakers chocolate tone. Lighter roasts will show some acidity but also risks a little grassy/earthy, similar to its Indonesian cousins. Medium roasts pull the cup together and are pretty sweet and smooth with a developing chocolaty factor and a hint of spice in the aftertaste. Touching second crack seemed like a sweet spot for the coffee, really building the body and dark chocolate tones, gets a little smoky in the aftertaste.  Into 2nd crack will get a bit roasty and rough and tumble, a good roast for those who classically like darker roasts.

Roasting Notes: This coffee will look a shade darker than it really is. Starts to get a little sheen on it when approaching a medium roast. Will appear splotchy at the lighter roast points and should be avoided (1 bean showing two colors). Medium roasts will be nice and even looking developing a sheen on the surface of the beans, dark roast wait for just a hint of oil on the surface. Good to let this one setup for at least a day or two.