July 2024

Papua New Guinea

Simbai Balus Kopi (Simbai Airplane Coffee)

Elevation: 1600 - 1900 meters above sea level

Grade: Specialty Grade

Process: 36 hour ferment, Washed

Varietal: Bourbon

Tasting Notes:  Stone Fruit, Passion Fruit, Caramel, Cacao Nibs

From the remote Simbai region of Papua New Guinea, on the Northern Side of the Bismarck Mountain range, comes this specialty coffee. It's name "Airplane Coffee" comes from the practice of small holder farms transporting their coffee to airstrips where light aircraft come to retrieve the coffee on a regular basis. This area is so remote that's the only way to get the coffee out!

Our importer partners with a local organization at origin that helps 4,000 farmers across 4 airstrips to get coffee to a centralized warehouse on PNG, and then charters flights out of the country with the coffee once there is enough to fill an entire plane.

Due to the remote nature of these small holder farmers, the coffee cherries are hand-pulped and then fermented for 36 hours before the mucilage is washed off. This short fermentation helps accentuate the terrior (growing environment) of the coffee, and leads to generally clean and bright cups of coffee. This coffee is full of body, almost buttery with flavor.

 The rich terrior of Papua New Guinea gives this coffee a balanced sweetness, bittersweet chocolate, stone fruits like dried cherry or plum, caramel, and green tea.