PAPUA NEW GUINEA SIGRI PLANTATION FILTER

Sigri Estate - The farm was founded in 1950 and is in Waghi Valley where the coffee enjoys a perfect climate for growing. The stunningly fertile soil of Papua Island ensures that the coffee has rich flavours.

Moreover, strict rules on fauna protection have been implemented on Sigri Estate to create a sanctuary for endangered species under threat. The farm management supports different kinds of social concerns: community activities, aiding schools, churches, and medical facilities. They undertake road and bridge maintenance for the use of the community and have founded several elementary schools. Furthermore, a Community Relations Officer is involved in projects that enhance women´s status in the community to promote gender equality.

The farm is situated in 1.525m altitude in the flat and fertile Waghi Valley near Mt.Hagen. Soils are of Volcanic origin. Regular rainfall and good sunshine provide the basis for coffee to grow and cup well. Soil and water conservation as a priority, and the plantation is bird and eco-friendly. They employ a "medium density shade" strategy, which uses two types of shade trees to protect the coffee plants and fields. This promotes not only the even ripening of coffee cherries, but also provides habitat for at least 90 species of birds.

Coffee is a relative newcomer to Papua New Guinea considering that the commercial coffee production in the country dates to 1926/1927 when the first Jamaica Blue Mountain seeds were planted. Making up a share of approx. 70% of the coffee production is largely characterized by small farmers with landholdings that grow as little as 20 trees per plot in so-called "coffee gardens" alongside subsistence crops. The country is generally dominated by fragmented mountain ranges, steep valleys, and plateaus that are difficult to access.

Since many of the smallholder farmers live in such remote places, their coffee must be picked up by airplanes on grass landing strips, or for those lucky enough to have road access, trucked to the nearest town – often struggling with broken axles from the trip. The typical village-based grower in PNG uses no synthetic fertilizer or chemical pesticides. Leaf-fall from the trees which shade it, together with the skin and pulp of his freshly processed crop provide natural and nutrient-rich mulch.

A Peaberry (also called caracol, or "snail" in Spanish) is a natural mutation of the coffee bean inside its cherry. Normally coffee beans grow two to a fruit, flat against each other like halves of a peanut, happens in about 5% of the world's coffee. The Sigri Plantation, where the “ Sigri” Coffee comes from, only contains the best Arabica varieties like Arusha and Typica, which originate from seed of Jamaica Blue Mountain Typica.Conflicting sources classify Arusha simultaneously as a Bourbon coffee and a Typica coffee, but its genetic heritage is irrelevant to its exceptional flavors. If you’re lucky enough to try Arusha coffee, you’ll enjoy cups medium acidity and deep in herbal chocolatey notes.

The main coffee harvest is from June to October. All cherry is wet processed. Sigri coffee undergoes a rigorous wet factory process. The quality control begins in the field – all coffee cherries are hand- picked and carefully checked for uniformity. It must be red and fully ripe which allows the correct balance of sugar and acid within the cherry. This selected cherry is then pulped on the same day of picking and washed through a process of three days, with total immersion in water the final day, which creates a unique flavor profile. Sun-drying further enhances the coffee and, unlike many others, all Sigri Coffee is sun-dried to enhance the flavour. Careful conditioning, hulling, grading and hand sorting follows. 

Our coffee is hand roasted with precision and care in small batches, focusing on preserving its natural attributes and highlighting each variety’s unique flavour. In roasting, the coffee beans’ unique attributes give us the best they have.

Our process is roasting and then cupping - evaluating the coffee’s acidity, body, flavour, aroma, aftertaste, and natural sweetness. We then adjust our roast profile and repeat until we are excited by the outcome. In this process, a unique roasting curve is developed to suit each individual coffee. The roasting curve allows us to roast the coffee repeatedly in the same way to maintain flavour, quality, and consistency.