Barrington Coffee Roasters Papua New Guinea Kimel Farms Co-Op
This is one of the two coffees that I came back with after my visit to Barrington Coffee last month. It’s taken me ages to get around to writing about it, but I suppose there’s three reasons for that, 1) it’s summer, and we’ve been keeping busier than usual (which is saying something), 2) it’s summer, and with the rising temps my mind turns less often to thoughts of coffee, so while I drink it each day, putting the thought into writing about it is less common, 3) the World Cup – we’ve turned into soccer/football addicts and have been watching games during nearly all of our spare moments.
Nonetheless, I was lucky to get the chance to try this coffee. It’s unusual in a couple of regards. First off, it’s a peaberry coffee, meaning that the coffee cherry produced only one, rounded coffee bean. Most coffee cherries produce two haves of a coffee bean, which is why each coffee bean ends up having one flat side. Typically, peaberries account for ~5% of the harvest. The second interesting note about this coffee is that it is wet-processed, which is out of the norm for most coffees from Papua New Guinea. When wet-processed, all of the skin, pulp, and mucilage is removed from the coffee bean before it is dried, leading to a brighter coffee. In contrast, most coffees from Papua New Guinea are wet-hulled, whereby most of the skin, pulp, and mucilage is removed from the coffee bean, but not all. The beans are then left to dry for a period of time, typically up to a day, with the remaining mucilage on them. This produces a coffee with a more unique presence in the cup, sometimes a bit earthy, or funky.
The co-op that produces this coffee, Kimel Farms, is also fairly unique. Much of the coffee coming out of Papua New Guinea is from large plantations that have their own mills. In contrast, the Kimel Farms Co-Op incorporates both a central 620 hectare plantation and a number of smaller, privately-owned farms, and it is cooperatively owned by the Opais peoples of the Wahgi Valley, in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The farms are located at the high altitude of 5000 feet above sea level, and the varietals grown include Typica, Arusha, Blue Mountain, Mundo Novo, Catimor, and Caturra.
Tasting Notes
The beans were harvested in late December of 2009. Barrington chose a light/City+ roast, which has been my favorite roast level of theirs lately. It produces some very bright, nearly effervescent and exciting coffees. But this could have a lot to do with the time of year as well, since I’m typically a total sucker for Kenyan coffees at other times of the year.
In the cup, the coffee has distinct aromas of tobacco, citrus peel, dark molasses, mint, and cedar. The texture is smooth with a soft mouthfeel and notable acidity. Flavors of black cherries, walnuts, pecans, and fresh strawberry abound. The incredible finish brings gentle waves of melted brown sugar and cocoa powder accented by key lime.
Overall, I thought this coffee was pretty understated. It presented a nice range of flavors, a great finish, and was a pleasure to drink. It didn’t stimulate deep contemplation or outright excitement, but was just plain tasty. We enjoyed it quite a bit as we worked our way through the pound.
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