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Papua New Guinea (Peaberry)

Wahgi Valley Kimel Estate

Christopher C.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

This month’s Roaster’s Choice selection is as rare and eclectic as they come. Wahgi Valley Kimel Estate is grown at a whopping 1,580 masl in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. At this elevation, coffee matures much more slowly, giving this peaberry its sweet time to fully develop notes of dried apricot, lime zest, and kiwi. To preserve these flavors, we went with a lighter roast—we’d be doing the entire Wahgi Valley a disservice to take it any darker.

The Wahgi Valley Kimel Estate was purchased by a collective of local landowners in 1979, the preeminent being the Opais tribe, and currently employs a permanent workforce of 432. All workers live on the estate and receive education for their children and access to medical facilities and clean water.

two people holding a bunch of coffee cherries in their hands

The Kimel Estate has greatly benefited from its location along the Kimel River, from where its coffee lots are irrigated and washed. Additionally, Kimel producers are careful stewards of the land, specializing in crop husbandry, as well as recycling pulp into organic fertilizer and collecting wet-process water for reuse. All the coffee produced by this cooperative is shade-grown, washed after de-pulping and fermenting, and dried in the sun.

There’s specialty coffee, and then there’s specialty coffee. This is the latter, and we couldn’t be more excited.

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