Papua New Guinea | Kongo B

Roaster’s tasting notes: chocolate | orange | winey

Kongo Coffee Ltd. is a locally owned coffee export company based primarily in Simbu province. Simbu is Papua New Guinea’s third largest coffee producing province. Kongo have been in operation since before the turn of the millennium and provides services to the smallholder coffee producers.

Coffee in PNG is mostly processed using the traditional wet method, with drying done with mechanical driers, raised beds or ‘sails’. Sails are tarpaulins stretched out under the sun to provide clean space to dry the beans.

Over the years Kongo have been supporting several schools across the Simbu province. This includes funding for building development, resources, and school fee scholarships.

This particular coffee includes a premium for the Simbu Project This project is their own, which has been investing locally for more than 35 years. They pay producers 20% above market rate for their coffee, which means not only are producers paid well, but there is always plenty of good coffee coming through because there is up to a further 60% increase available based on quality. This in turn means they can sell at a good price, and have money to invest. 7 primary schools are funded by Kongo B, and infrastructure is invested in too such as local road upkeep and telegraph connections.