My first to visit the coffee growing regions of Papua New Guinea left me dazed and confused…
If you travel, perhaps you have been somewhere that confuses you a bit, where things don’t quite add up, where you can’t get a good sense of where you are.
Perhaps that happens geographically, because it seems like some places you have been, and unlike any place you have been as well. Perhaps its the local culture, the people, unlike any you have encountered.
Perhaps its the economy, you can’t get the monetary conversion right; it’s cheap one place and ridiculously expensive another. Perhaps it’s security, and you can’t decide whether all the happy smiling people are friendly, or whether, in a different circumstance, they would steal everything you possess.
What if it is all those confusing things … all at once.
What if every ten minutes or so, someone says something that you just can’t quite believe the said. Like “that guy with the crutches on the road, I had to shoot his leg, during the siege, when the village elder told the locals it’s okay to take our farm and kill us.”
But then you just sorta wave and drive on. Isn’t that sorta odd?
Okay, that’s extreme. (But it happened, on my PNG trip, literally)
What if you were at work, and there was an argument with a visitor, and he punched you in the face, and everyone you work with just waited to see how it turned out, rather than helping and later they all said they were “there for you” and were extremely nice and caring.
Things that seem one way change quickly in PNG, apparently, and trust is in very rare supply.
The stories like these were pretty much endless, as well as very different ones that were much more heartening. It gives depth the the lit-crit term “multiple narratives”, and makes a brief visitor like me think this is a very complexThe co-presence of many aroma and flavor attributes, with multiple layers. A general impression of a coffee, similar to judgments such as "balanced" or "structured" place, and somewhere not quite like any other place. -Tom
Lush and Rustic – I had heard of the small coffee gardens here, and how lush and rich it was. Basically, anything you stick in the soil grows . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Welcome to Papua New Guinea – Greeting you at the airport in the capital Port Moresby, a ready place to check your guns. Since a lot of the guns in rural areas are home made, I wonder how they deal with those. Parchment coffee – Some farmers choose to process their coffee to parchment, dried to about 12 moisture, and sell it to the Colbrans. It should be ready to run through their dry mill at that point . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Finally in the coffee area. – I left Oakland California Friday at 9 pm, arrived Lae Papua New Guinea Sunday at 8 pm, a long trip with 4 flights, and 17 hours in the future. We visited the Colbran family in the Eastern Highlands, and their Baroida farm (original spelling Baro-ida, a local name). . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Kofi Prais – In Pigin English, the local language other than the 850+ tribal dialects, you can understand most phrases phonetically. Coffee Price: Colbrans pay quite high. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Barefooted – There had been a lot of rain, and the clay soils make for a muddy mess. It seems many Papuans are perfectly fine barefooted. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Waiting for the weigh in… – Each farmer gets weighed and paid on the spot, making parchment trading a great source for ready cash. Everything else you can grow. Some Papuans might be poor, but they are not hungry. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Colbrans Coffee Mill – Next morning, we make it to the Baroida farm, where the Colbran family have their mill. They farm their own coffee land, as well as buy coffee cherry from small farmers, and buy dried parchment coffee. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Thick walls make for safe transactions – 1 foot thick vault for paying the farmers. After the stories I hear of robberies with their home made shotguns (a pipe, a shell, and a nail as a firing pin) they need it! . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s The crowd – Waiting for payment, perhaps. But there is a lot of leisure time here, and a lot of hanging out. I don’t doubt a lot of folks at the Colbrans buying station aren’t just there to socialize. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s PNG Love – I saw this shirt quite a bit – almost a tourist item, but worn by a lot of locals… it has the famous Bird of Paradise on it, which oddly the Papuans like to shoot with slingshots to get the feathers. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Dogs of Coffee Calender contender? – On the way to one of the coffee-producing villages. We road out on the truck because there was supposedly a load of parchment to pick up, but it was mostly gone when we arrived . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s The real Buna Arabica – Coffee is harvested rather quickly upom ripening (or sometimes too early, I hate to say), because it will be stolen from the trees otherwise. Coffee is primarily Typica, with Bourbon, Arusha and Caturra as well. We saw some Mundo Novo. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Papua New Guinea – so happy to get a picture with coffee cherry – One of my favorite guys… Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Showing me how it is done – He insisted on a crash course in coffee picking for me… . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s All thumbs. – Complete instructions on correct harvesting technique, courtesy of a local picker. These are coffees from the outlaying smallholder farms that come to Colbrans mill as Tairora. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Papua New Guinea Typica – The majority of the coffee is Typica here, which suits the climate, and produces less so people don’t have to work to hard! In other words, it meshes well with local culture. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Large Typica trees under shade – This is quite typical for the shading and spacing of coffee plantings in PNG, perhaps more health in these bushes than you might find as a norm. Weeds are a big problem here, so the dense planting helps restrict light that would grown the weeds, although it allows less air movement which can lead to more fungus issues. The shade tree here is the Yar. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Sorting after hulling – Hand sorting of green coffee after milling it out of parchment. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Blue Tarp Drying – This was a little depressing, especially since it was raining like crazy most days we were there. Drying on the ground, on tarps that were not truly water-tight. Raised beds are much better. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Lot Control – How much is too much? Certainly it is great to have control of incoming parchment coffee, but what you really need to do is separate by qualities.. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Burned Down – The family house at Boroida burned down last year after some electric work was done. All that was left standing was the safe, where all the documents, guns and ammo were kept! You can see the floor beans in the foreground. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Cherry Sorting – The coffee cherry bought at the mill, or the cherry they go out into the communities to buy, is called Tairora by the farm. Tairora is the local people. Here they are doing some sorting of the cherry to remove under-ripes. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Chris Colbran – Chris at the buying station on the farm. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s John Gordon pulpers – The mill is undergoing some improvements, and they are building new fermentation and washing areas. In the meantime there is a cobbled chute from the pulper to the fermentation tank. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Pulp – After peeling the skin, the pulp is collected for composting . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee cherry entering the pulper – Plentiful water allows the mill to transport cherry without being too concerned with resource usage. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s A message from Samuel Rata – Samuel Rata, a lonely guay, all alone No one loves him, known asala demons, Moua SHP, PO Box 18 . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s A message from Sweet Maria’s – On your dirty Ford dualie diesel pickup truck. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s The gangs all there – Hyun-ki Lee – Momos Coffee, Frank and Junho – Cafe Bene, Chris Colbran, Andrew Ford -MTC, Tim Hill -Counter Culture . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Boroida School – One of the newer projects at the farm is improvement of the school facility, which used to run out of a shipping container. Melody Chacon, Chris’ fiance, has been the driving force behind the school. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s The river runs through it – Lamari River through Boroida farm shows the ample amounts of water in the PNG highlands. In fact, this place is absolutely blessed with rich soils, forests and other resources. It is Edenic! . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s But what a nice shipping container it is … – The original “school building”, a former shipping container, was painted by the school children. It’s really beautiful. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Outhouse, Papua New Guinea style. – And what a beautiful view of the PNG Eastern Highlands it has… . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Eho Boys House: Eastern Highlands Advertising – It’s not unlikely that Eho Boys is a bit of a local gang in the tribe, although this is in a rural area near Bunta village, and most of the gangs are theives that stay in the market areas, like Kainantu, Goroka or Hagen. Watch your cell phone in those markets! It will be gone before you know it. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Tairora coffee cherry at the Colbran mill. – There are still some lingering issues with the quality of coffee cherry. You can see the darker cherry here, which is coffee picked the previous day, and became mildly fermented as the farmers carried it to the mill to sell. Nicol told me it’s a tough position, because he can’t have someone come that far, then reject the cherry. Next year they will be able to separate over-ripe, which will aid in the Tairora quality, and make the farmer happy too. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Bunta Girl – Bunta is a village not far from Boroida, and this family compound here was called the Kantuera project. A project is a slightly larger farm, even up to 20 hecatares, that might be owned by an individual or communally by a family group. Projects are also called “blockholders”. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Kantuera Dogs – Some typical PNG dogs – definite contenders for the 2012 Dogs of Coffee Calendar, although we are thinking of switching up the theme this year . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Betel-Nut is not a Nut … – … but it might make you nuts. A mild stimulant, incredibly bitter, many of the locals love to chew it constantly. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Kantuera Project, near Bonta – Typica coffee cherry in the Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee is a weed. – In this case it is indeed a weed. If too much ripe cherry is allowed to fall, it does exactrly what it wants to do as a tropical forest plant: It falls to the ground, rots, and as the skin decomposes the enzymes are triggered for seed germination and … voila, a new plant. But these choke out the productive coffee shrubs, not a good thing if you actually want to harvest a crop of coffee fruit! . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Chris talks to the Kantuerans – So the funny thing is, Colbrans gave the project some help with agronomy and other things, hoping they would deliver the cherry to their mill (and why not, they pay the top local price). But the coffee never came. Then there is the matter of “the siege,” which seems might have originated in this area. For more on that, see my PNG essay. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Bonta Coffee – Coffee cherry is heavy. Really heavy. I am not sure I could get this cherry up on my shoulders, let alone carry it on my head. But she can! . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Wizard or Hobbit – Sorry, don’t mean to be ridiculous, but the way the older generation gets all wizened is just remarkable. Add to that the amazing hobbit-like feet (just needs more hair) and you can’t get over the remarkable physical differences in people here. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Bonta Shaman – This store was for refreshments, Coke and snacks and stuff. But judging from the painting on the side, that is not all they do. Local religion is still very strong, and even those who convert to a Western religion always keep one foot in the tribal beliefs here. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Morita Block, Baroida Farm – Up around 1800 meters, new leaf on a Typica plant. We had a bit of trouble identifying the types of trees at Boroida. While leaf color is not the end-all indicator, Typicas have nearly always been “bronze tipped” but some that were green-tipped looked like Typica to Nichol. I defer to his experience on this. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Smoke and Clouds – On the way back to the farm, smoke and clouds form an amazing pallate of colors, in such an incredibly beautiful landscape. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Arusha, apparently. – Arusha did consistently appear to have dark bronze tips (new leaves), but I could not figure out the form of the tree in other respects. Arusha, by name, should be of Tanzania origin, possibly a Bourbon type since that would be the original coffee type for Tanzania brought by the French Mission. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Posers – Everyone wants a picture, especially when you can show it to them on the LCD of the camera. Tairora kids on the farm. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Effect of Pinks Disease – Leaf withering as a result of Pinks Disease. The only way to treat it is with anti-fungal spray, copper … or removal of the plant. Other problems here are weeds and grasses that compete with the coffee, leaf fungus (rust), cicada, and the berry borer is not farm away, on the Indonesia side of the island, Papua (Irian Jaya). Over-use of Roundup weedicide is another problem, and has proven to damage feeder roots on the coffee. Colbrans don’t use it. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Grandfather Typica – Original plantings are still prevalent on the farm, where Nichol’s father planted the original coffee. Typica might have been brought from Hawaii, because there was an agronomist, Dr. Gota, from the U of H that came to promote coffee under a mandate of the UN and ICO. It might also explain why they say there is Blue Mountain cultivar in PNG, which was in the gardens in Hawaii, but there is some doubt whether it is truly JBM coffee. Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Nichol Colbran, Generation 2 – The Colbran farm was started by Nichol’s father, Chris’ grandfather, who now lives in northern Australia near Carnes. Nichol has worked in the Western Highlands as well, and has a wealth of coffee knowledge. I found him to have incredible intelligence and intuition in his approach. Even when a ringer of an idea came along (for example, Pinto Peanut, a nitrogen fixing groundcover to fight weeds) he planted a small test patch to check it out. He soon saw it choked out the coffee and ripped it out. Others planted their entire farm in it and paid a steep price, or simply abandoned the land. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Pinks Disease on branch – Pink’s Disease is a fungal problem in Papua New Guinea, showing up as slightly pink blotches on the branches. It will split the branch bark, opening it up to decay, as well as wither the leaves . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s “Bourbon” varietal – A green tipped plant that we all agreed seemed to be a true Bourbon in color and form. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Tim Ducks – A drive around the farm next day proved mildly hazardous to your face, as the old trees that arch over the road tended to slap you in the face … not that coffee buyers don’t need a good slap in the face. Tim Hill from Counter Culture. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee fires – Pickers start a small cooking fire with coffee wood from the farm. Yurara block on Baro-ida farm. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Melody’s baby, Margot – Melody’s dog love to have something to bark at, and visitors provide some needed excitment. Otherwise, she goes and teases her favorite guard dog, probably 60 lbs larger than her, stationed below the house. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Mundo Novo on Yurara Block, Baroida – The Colbrans have some areas of Mundo Novo. They don’t especially love this cultivar because of the difficulty to manage it. I would like to cup it separately to see how it rates. It is planted at 1750-1780 meters . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Bundling up the Banana – Wrapping banana in burlap to help it mature and ripen. There isn’t a lot of intercropping on the farm, but you will see occasional fruit trees. . Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Headed to Goroka: Coffins with a View! – NR Coffin Makers; Cheapest Rate, Quality Work! Goroka is a main center of commerce for the Western Highlands of PNG, although I think it is technically still in the Eastern Highland area. Overloaded with Coffee – It’s a huge crop in PNG and it all came at one time. The warehouses are completely stuffed with coffee in Goroka. Unfortunately they often mill the coffee to green well before sending it down to Lae, the port for export. . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee PNGCE: Safety comes first – We were visiting Papua New Guinea Coffee Exporters in Goroka, where there are many coffee export companies all lined up across from the airport strip there. I just liked this photo, and glad to see the safety concern … although shouldn’t these actually be on people’s heads? . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee Container Shipping Vessels, in perfect harmony with nature. – I thought it was a fanciful way to present heavy industry. I mean ususally a painting like this would have some bitchin’ tubular waves in the middle, perfect spray coming off the lip, some wahinis with a flower behind the ear … not a container ship. . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee Tim cupping at the mill in Goroka – We cupped about 30 lots in Goroka, and there was a mix of stand-out coffees, and some that had a noticeable smokey scent from careless mechanical drying, and storage. . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee John Gordon – Such a cache is attached to the reputation for the old John Gordon pulpers from England, that someone thought they would re-create the nameplate with welding rod. . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee Green coffee smokers … I mean, Commercial paddle dryers. – These are used for the lower grade coffees, since the goal is to dry in a short amount of time. . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee On the way from Goroka to Hagen – In the area of Simbu (pronounced Chimbu) a continer on a flatbed truch went awry. Considering the wealth of the government of PNG from natural resource royalties, this road is in pretty bad shape. But it does not rival the worst roads I have been on … not at all. Simbu , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee Parchment kilns – Burning parchment that is removed from the coffe when it is hulled is a great way to use the byproduct in the process. But the system needs to burn clean, and use heat exchangers to avoid smoking the coffee. . Goroka town, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea, Sweet Maria’s Coffee Read the Bible … – Well, as the sign indicates, you kinda need to Follow the Bible, not just Read the Bible. It seems the Following part is the hang up in PNG! Simbu, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Banz Kofi, Hagen – We visited a coffee parchment buyer in Hagen, Banz Kofi, who also roasts some very nice qualities for their own cafe in town. What a nice respite from the rest of Mount Hagen town, and a great place to go to wait for a flight at the airport across the way. Nice espresso, great sandwiches. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Plot at Banz Kofi, Mount Hagen – Patrick had planted a small plot of around the cafe in town, with seeds supplied by his partner at the Kiam wet mill, Bob Hargreaves. These were really interesting Typica-like plants, but a very vertical branch structure and bronze tips. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Bourbon-ish. Or Typica? – The uniform clumping of the cherry absolutely is Bourbon, but with dark bronze tips (new leaves) … this plant is quite a conundrum. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Kiam Coffee Mill, Hagen – Next we headed out to the Kiam mill, which buys local coffee cherry for processing, and intends to put in a new pulper just for quality coffee fruit. Ity was drizzling so the woman pushing the coffee down the channel had an umbrella. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Bob Hargreaves and Suniel, Kiam Coffee Mill, Hagen – Suniel accompanied us from Goroka, where he works with Jon Edwards at PNGCE. Bob is an old-timer in Hagen area, coming to PNG in the ’60s . I loved his Gandalf style. He is a wealth of knowledge about coffee, as well as his work in citrus in the area. In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Kiam Coffee Mill, Hagen – Just in case? Well, in Goroka I heard of fights often breaking out over disagreements when someone comes in to sell the coffee cherry or parchment. This machete was tucked around a corner. In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Don’t Blame the Youths, Blame the System – Right on with your right on …Shipping container wisdom inside a storage shed at Kiam Mill. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rain in the dry season – Rain was sometimes quite intense on this trip, and we had a little every day of the trip. This is not good for the coffee quality, or the ability to dry coffee without machine use. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Soggy wetness – Can you dry coffee like this? – We went up a dirt road from Kiam to the Tun mill, a coffee we had liked on the cupping table in Goroka. It’s a nice, small operation. But efforts to dry coffee at this point were futile: they need covered, raised beds. Blue tarps allow water to seep through over time, onto the parchment coffee In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Classic disc pulper at Tun – This is the standard pulper in PNG, a disc type, but without the cherry density grader and off-grade channel of a Kenya system. I understand much of the coffee process knowledge came direct from Kenya. At Kimel we see a full Kenya system in use. In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee All orange, all over – Could it be that if you chew enough betelnut, your eyes turn orange to match your teeth. While he looks a little hostile, this guy was super friendly. ( Just don’t insult his tribe though…) In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Thomas Kennedy, Tun Coffee Mill, Hagen – Thomas bought this mill after working for years with many of the local companies, including the very large Sigri coffee and tea plantation group. In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Traditional Building Materials – Given the price of all the pre-fab gas, oil and mining camps, price goucging in the extreme, going back to woven material might catch on. In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee The Local Mount Hagen town Market – Food vendors in Hagen. Local markets are still cheap, even in the presence of a completley different, and ridiculously expensive economy aimed at the multi-national company employees who come in to extract natural resources. The local market is also a place to quickly lose your wallet and phone. There are gangs that look for foreigners here… In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Fine Dining and Socializing in Hagen – I guess there is not much outside of the Hagen club, which houses local Rotary functions and such. We ate there every night we were in town. I found little humor in the Life Members board, a piece of shellaced wood with yellow rub on letters, that certainly would not last a lifetime. In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Every Bridge has a Story… – And the story of this one is that a truck from his farm didn’t approach the bridge right, flipped, and fell 15 feet upside down into the river below. Instead of saving the driver, locals pounced on the coffee cherry spilling into the stream. By the time real help arrived, the driver was drowned, and the coffee cherry was all gone. Just another PNG story that you can’t quite believe … but you do. Nebula Valley, near Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Taken from the Others … – “Lost” was on my mind quite a few times on this trip, first at the bizarre SIL mission compound we stayed at in the East, then seeing the occasional orange jumpsuit like this. Is he with the Others, or he just digs their fashions? Is it any coincidence this is in the Nebula Valley? Near Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Original Typica coffee at Korgua farm – The Leahy family is well-known. Brian’s father and uncle were Mick Leahy and Dan Leahy (called Kuta Dan), who were the first to come to the Hagen area. Dan planted coffee up high, where he had a small gold mine, but the coffee failed there. Later he planted it slightly lower at this site, now Korgua farm. If the first coffee he planted had taken it would have been the first coffee farm in PNG. This is 60 year old Typica, and it looks it! “Kuta Dan”‘s Korgua farm is built on a traditional battle ground between the Ulga and Kolga tribes. They asked him to settle there as a buffer between them, and to arbitrate their disputes! Nebula Valley, near Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Kangaroo – It seems this old tree has a young tree in the pouch. On exposed surfaces that rot, these trees actually form a soil pocket, and when the cherry falls in it sprouts! Nebula Valley, near Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee We knew it would be tough … – … but the Nissan was up to the task! Ont he way out was a clay-mud hill that was really slick and rutted. It took a few tries but Brian muscled us out, which some pushing from a couple American coffee buyers (Tim and I) and some locals. That’s why Brian thinks Nissan are the best (even though he is stuck driving a Toyota Land Cruiser for now.) Nebula Valley, near Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Why bare feet sorta work in PNG – On the way back through Hagen, the market is pure mud. If you had a choice between barefeet and boots, well, eventually just going barefoot might seem like a reasonable option. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee OK Corporation – Back when OK actually meant good, the Kimel Plantation was formed. Actually it refers to the two tribes in the area, the Opai, and Kan. It’s actually combined from a smaller, older farm, Kimel, and 500 hecatares of new planting from the ’70s, Kopan Plantation. Both are sold together as Kimel. Also they buy about 30 of their coffee from independent outlaying farms. Oddly, it should be spelled Kimil, for the town and people of the area. Kimel Plantation, North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea Pre-Loved Clothing, and Coffins – An unusual joint venture … or can we assume the source for both the clothing and the coffins to be the same household??? And while we cannot be sure the clothing WAS actually loved, we hope the people that go in the coffins were. Maybe they can mix up the name and it will still make sense. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Bumber Crop at Kimel – The warehouse at Kimel was absolutely stuffed full of parchment coffee, mostly in bags, some bulked. This fella had to show it off to me, in exchange for a photo. The farm is on the flat part of the Wahgi valley floor, at 1580 meters or so. Kimel Plantation, North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea The sorting types – Ladies (and a few Gents) who sort the coffee after milling at Kimel. All the coffee is hand sorted for the higher grades here. Again, not smoker’s teeth, but betel-nut stains instead. Kimel Plantation, North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea Yo, Kimelites. Wassup. – The krew at Kimel. These guys were doing their best to do their “hip-hop posse” pose. As a day job, they run the mecanical driers at Kimel. This season, with all the unseasonable rains, much of the coffee has been dried mecahnically. North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea Kimel Pulpers, Traditional Kenya Type – Kimel is interesting. They say the processing techniques in PNG are straight from Kenya, and Kimel proves it. They use Kenya pulpers and graders, with a secondary channel for under-ripes and floaters. Then the coffee is fermented 12 hours, washed to a second concrete tank and fermented again 12 hours dry, and then washed to a soaking tank for holding. So coffee picked on a Monday is fermented Monday night, washed and transferred Tuesday, fermented again, transfered to a soak tank on Wednesday, and then ready to go to the driers or sun dry on Thursday. Kimel Plantation, North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Rambir Singh and Brian Leahy, the OK Corporation – Rambir is the manager of the operation, who comes from an extensive tea background. His opinion is that tea processing is much more difficult and risky that coffee, which I believe is true. Rambir Singh means Running Bear, he says. Is he really American Indian, and not from India at all? Kimel Plantation, North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea Betel-Nut Smiles – And here is a great example of the nearly fluorescent teeth you will get if you chew betelnut all day, every day. This picture was at Kimel farm, later in the trip. . West Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Kimel Plantation – A rudimentary game with a ring and a stick – maybe someone will invent an app version for the iPhone see we all can play it? In the middle of Kopan Plantation, adjacent to Kimel. North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea Crocadile and coffee – At Banz Kofi, Patrick built a coupe of habitats for his juvenile crocs. It will be interesting to see how they grow as I return each year! In the area of Mount Hagen, , Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Poinsettia and coffee, Kopan – A unique intercropping? Poinsettia is something I have seen in other origin countries, perhaps because it likes the same mild cool climates as coffee. North Wahgi, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea Brian Leahy – Our main point in Hagen was to visit with Brian Leahy, to see his farm Korgua, his mill called Kuta Wet Mill, and to see Kimel (Kimil) farm, which he is also part of. Here he looks at some cherry coming into Kuta, probably with a bit of disdain since it has a lot of under-ripes. Brian is well known in the area as his father and uncle were pioneers. He is in a unique position since his mother Mancy was a local girl, but is seen as “white” by the indigeous people here. His cousin Joe Leahy is featured in the excellent First Contact series about settlement in the New Guinea highlands. In the area of Mount Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Vericulture, worm beds at Kuta Mill. – Brian had pretty extensive worm beds to eat up a portion of his coffee pulp waste at Kuta Mill. His brother John Leahy runs the Lahamenegu mill in Goroka and has the only other worm beds I have seen. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Kuta Mill – Next we visited Brian’s mill called Kuta. Coffee was coming in but the quality was not great, with many under-ripes. Although a good percentage are removed in the wet-milling, it’s hard to get them out once they are in the system. Kuta mill is a private business, owned by Brian, but actually functions like a Coop, in that it makes a second payment after the harvest to farmers who deliver consistently to the mill. Brian’s dad was called Kuta Dan, named for the Kuta ridge where he prospected for Gold and first planted coffee. Kuta means salty. So Salty Dan … maybe he was? Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Pulp for Compost – Brian has built a unique swinging arm to direct his coffee pulp, the skin of the cherry that is waste after the seeds are removed. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Unripe coffee flloated out in milling – Some of the under-ripes will float out – these are still intact because they were too hard for the pulper to remove the outer skin. But you can see how the pulper nicked them. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Suppliers – These are what Brian calls “roadside suppliers” and in Latin America they call Coyotes, the people who drive around to the small farms to buy coffee cherry. In a sense, they provide a valuable service though, and do not necessarily take advantage of the farmer or the mill, although they have no real loyalty to either. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Global, Bought cheap at auction – I have no idea what Brian was thinking, but I guess he got a great deal on this truck. Good luck with that, Brian… Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Kuta Kopi Mill – The density table at Kuta Kopi Mill, the dry mill Brian is running in Hagen. The coffee they were running was fairly commercial quality and had lots of defects and parchment suspended by the vibrating action of the sorter. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rock Blend: 40 coffee, 60 Gravel – Whether it is in the coffee on purpose, added to increase the weight, or just swept up with the coffee as it dries, getting the rocks (and some glass too!)out of the coffee is something that needs to happen at the dry mill. Hagen, Western Highands, Papua New Guinea. Sweet Maria’s Coffee Incredible Highland Landscape – We were driving around to see some of the smallholder suppliers that sell cherry to Brian at the Kuta mill. The landscape here is so impressive, and confusing, as is everything in PNG to the out-of-towner. It’s part Rocky Mountains, part California foothills, part New Zealand, part Montana, and but in the semi tropics too? Geologically rich, totally unstable, with snow capped peaks at +14000 feet, and coral reefs with azure blue waters. Go figure… Nuts to you, Papua New Guinea. I will understand you. Some day… Tom