From its earliest introduction to present day, the arabica gene stock in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is considered to be one of the country’s strongest natural assets, not to mention one of the best-preserved typica lineage variety sets in the world. And these delicate genetics clearly thrive in PNG’s highlands, which are some of the most virgin and fertile on the planet. Between World Wars I and II, Australian settlers would establish more and more large coffee estates across the Eastern, Chimbu, Jiwaka, and Western highland provinces. As commercial exports ramped up, more indigenous Papuans would adopt coffee as a cash crop alongside their traditional economies, in most cases processing at home and selling humid parchment to traveling collectors. For hundreds of thousands of rural farmers coffee would be, and still is, the very first and only source of western currency. To this day expert-level cultivation knowledge largely remains in the possession and experience of PNG’s plantation owners. Remote smallholder coffee tends to fall short of its potential, receiving only scarce quality interventions from ambitious millers and exporters. In many cases the best strategy for exporters is to collect parchment from a wide region and refine the coffee at the dry milling stage for optimal quality. This PSC X grade blend is made possible by Monpi Coffee, a miller and exporter based in both Garoka and Mt. Hagen, the two main coffee industry hubs in PNG’s highlands. Monpi’s Garoka Dry Mill purchases finished dried parchment from various collectors and processors across the Eastern Highlands province for centralized milling and lot building. Since the quality of smallholder coffee varies greatly, it requires careful sensory work and physical sorting to create each exportable grade out of many deliveries. “PSC” stands for “Premium Smallholder Coffee”, and “X” designates a blend of various screen sizes. In addition to parchment collection, Monpi also maintains a business unit dedicated to supporting smallholders directly through training and community support. Called Sustainability Management Service (SMS), the team oversees trainings throughout the year that address agricultural practices, gender equality, youth inclusion, climate change mitigation, and environmental preservation. Other dry mills they manage are also developing coffee nurseries to provide new plantings to local farmer networks, to support productivity for their farmers for the long term.
