Some coffees become favourites because they taste good.
Others become part of your history.
For me, Papua New Guinea is both.
My connection with PNG coffee began more than 30 years ago, long before myCuppa existed and long before I had any idea I would eventually spend my working life roasting coffee.
It started with one cup at a hotel breakfast in Lae.
And that cup changed everything.
Coffee Before Specialty Coffee
Coffee had already been part of my life through my mother, who worked in hospitality and operated cafés in Newcastle during the 1980s and 1990s.
Espresso in Australia looked very different back then.
There were only a handful of commercial coffee suppliers.
Coffee arrived with very little information about origin, processing or flavour.
Much of it was heavily roasted.
Pre-ground coffee was common.
Freshness was barely discussed.
Nobody talked about altitude, variety, processing or harvest dates.
You bought coffee.
You put it into the machine.
And you assumed that was simply what coffee tasted like.
Then I went to Papua New Guinea.
The First Trip to PNG
Between 1991 and 1993, my work took me to Papua New Guinea several times.
These trips had absolutely nothing to do with coffee.
PNG was a challenging place to travel during that period.
Security briefings were serious.
Night-time curfews were common.
Road travel could be unpredictable.
Communication was limited.
Mobile phones did not exist.
And travel rarely seemed to go according to plan.
My first journey took me from Port Moresby to Lae, where I arrived late in the afternoon after a long and confusing trip.
By the time I reached the hotel, I was exhausted.
That evening I was introduced to a colourful collection of expatriates living and working in the area.
Pilots.
Engineers.
Ship captains.
Former military personnel.
Mining people.
Characters who seemed to have walked out of an adventure movie.
The following morning, after perhaps enjoying their hospitality a little too enthusiastically, I went looking for breakfast.
More importantly, I went looking for coffee.
The Cup That Changed Everything
At the breakfast buffet was a large pot of brewed coffee.
I poured a cup and took the first sip.
My reaction was immediate.
What was this?
The coffee was sweet.
Fruity.
Clean.
Smooth.
Nothing like the dark, bitter coffee I was accustomed to drinking in Australia.
I drank another cup.
Then another.
At first, I wondered whether the previous night's activities had somehow distorted my senses.
So the following morning, with a considerably clearer head, I tried it again.
Same result.
The coffee was extraordinary.
Eventually I asked one of the staff what it was.
She smiled.
“Goroka.”
Then she laughed.
Every time she walked past me afterwards, she quietly repeated:
“Goroka.”
That name stuck.
Discovering Where the Coffee Came From
Later, I mentioned the coffee to a colleague named Simon.
Simon was a senior Papua New Guinean working in the Lae office and a highly respected member of his local community.
When I started talking about the coffee, his face lit up.
His family came from the Goroka region.
They grew coffee.
And, as chance would have it, he was travelling into the Highlands that weekend.
Then came the question.
Did I want to come?
My instructions from work had been fairly clear:
Stay safe.
Stay near the hotel.
Avoid unnecessary travel.
The sensible answer was obviously no.
I said yes.
Into the Highlands
The trip from Lae towards Goroka was long and spectacular.
As we climbed into the Highlands, the air became cooler and the landscape changed dramatically.
Mountain roads wound through dense vegetation.
Some sections were rough, washed out or partially blocked.
Eventually we left the main road and moved onto smaller mountain tracks.
By the time we arrived, it was dark.
The next morning I finally saw what had been hidden the night before.
Coffee trees stretched across the mountainsides.
The growing environment was remarkable.
High altitude.
Rich volcanic soils.
Regular rainfall.
Cooler temperatures.
Coffee seemed to be everywhere.
Coffee Farming Without the Romantic Story
One of Simon's relatives showed me around the family coffee areas and community processing facilities.
This was long before modern coffee marketing became obsessed with romantic images of origin.
What I saw was much more practical.
Coffee was a cash crop.
Families grew it because they needed income.
Roads were difficult.
Access could disappear after heavy rain.
Equipment was basic.
Transport was expensive.
Farmers had little visibility over what happened to their coffee once it left the local mill.
Traceability largely disappeared further along the supply chain.
Simon himself worked in Lae partly because coffee farming alone could not provide enough reliable income for the family.
That stayed with me.
Behind every cup was an economic reality far more complicated than the story printed on a coffee bag.
Coffee Growing Naturally in the Highlands
In the areas I visited, access to agricultural inputs was limited.
The remoteness of the farms meant fertilisers and pesticides were either difficult to obtain or simply unaffordable.
Yet the natural environment was exceptionally well suited to coffee production.
Altitude.
Rainfall.
Volcanic soils.
Shade.
Cool nights.
The coffee did not need a marketing department to make it interesting.
The growing conditions were already doing most of the work.
Visiting a Small Coffee Mill
One of the most memorable moments came during a visit to a small local coffee mill.
The equipment looked ancient.
Belts.
Pulleys.
Small processing machines.
Timber.
Tin walls.
Wood smoke hanging in the air.
Then somebody offered to make coffee.
Roasted beans were scooped from wooden containers, ground and brewed.
The result was staggering.
Tropical fruit.
Huge sweetness.
Clean acidity.
A completely different experience from the coffee I knew back home.
I was given a bag of roasted beans to take with me.
The smell filled the vehicle during the drive back to Lae.
I was also given one piece of advice:
Do not grind them until you are ready to drink them.
That was probably one of the earliest lessons I ever received about coffee freshness.
The Penny Finally Dropped
When I returned to Australia, I carefully rationed those coffees.
I would sit outside at home drinking them and thinking about the mountains, the farms, the people and the extraordinary journey behind them.
That was when coffee became something much bigger for me.
It was no longer merely a beverage.
It was agriculture.
Geography.
Processing.
Culture.
Engineering.
Trade.
People.
And flavour.
Most importantly, I had discovered that coffee could taste dramatically better than anything I had previously experienced.
Once you discover that, it is difficult to go backwards.
Why PNG Coffee Tastes So Distinctive
Papua New Guinea has remarkable conditions for producing coffee.
Much of its better coffee is grown at high altitude, where cooler conditions slow fruit development.
That can help create greater sweetness and complexity.
Depending on the region and processing, PNG coffees can show flavours such as:
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tropical fruit
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stone fruit
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berries
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citrus
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chocolate
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caramel
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spice
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floral character
But perhaps the most distinctive feature of great PNG coffee is its balance.
The best examples can combine fruit, sweetness, body and complexity without becoming aggressively acidic.
That versatility makes PNG particularly valuable for espresso.
PNG Coffee Is Never Completely Predictable
Papua New Guinea can also be difficult.
Quality varies enormously.
Infrastructure remains challenging in many growing areas.
Smallholder coffee may pass through multiple stages of collection and processing.
Traceability can vary.
Seasonal conditions change.
And two lots carrying similar regional descriptions can perform very differently.
That means we do not buy PNG coffee simply because it says PNG on the paperwork.
We taste.
We compare.
We reject.
And when we find an exceptional lot, we hold onto it as long as we reasonably can.
Why PNG Works So Well in Espresso
PNG coffee has always fitted naturally into the type of espresso we enjoy.
It can provide fruit without excessive sharpness.
Sweetness without becoming delicate.
Body without heaviness.
And chocolate characteristics without becoming boring.
That makes it particularly useful in milk-based espresso.
A good PNG can bring lift and complexity while still delivering the structure required to cut through milk.
It is one reason PNG has appeared repeatedly throughout our blends over the years.
Why It Still Matters to myCuppa
When myCuppa began, Papua New Guinea was never going to be just another origin on the list.
There was too much history behind it.
The coffee represented where my curiosity began.
It represented the moment I understood that origin could genuinely change flavour.
It represented people who welcomed an inquisitive stranger and happily explained what coffee meant to their families and communities.
And it represented the discovery that exceptional coffee did not need to be complicated.
Sometimes it simply needed to be grown in the right place, handled properly and allowed to speak for itself.
More Than 30 Years Later
A lot has changed since those first trips.
Coffee has become vastly more sophisticated.
Traceability has improved.
Processing knowledge has improved.
Roasting technology has changed.
Customers know far more about coffee than they did in the early 1990s.
But my reaction to a great PNG coffee remains remarkably similar.
There is still that moment when the sweetness appears.
The fruit comes through.
The cup settles into chocolate and caramel.
And I think back to that hotel breakfast in Lae.
One cup started an obsession that eventually became myCuppa.
That is why Papua New Guinea remains more than simply another coffee origin to us.
PNG coffee is part of our DNA.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Papua New Guinea coffee taste like?
PNG coffee can vary considerably, but high-quality lots often show combinations of tropical fruit, stone fruit, berries, citrus, chocolate, caramel and spice. The best examples can be sweet, balanced and complex without excessive acidity.
Why is Papua New Guinea good for growing coffee?
Many PNG growing regions have high altitude, volcanic soils, regular rainfall and cooler mountain temperatures. These conditions can slow coffee-cherry development and help produce sweetness and flavour complexity.
Is Papua New Guinea coffee good for espresso?
Yes. Good PNG coffees can provide excellent body, sweetness and fruit complexity, making them particularly versatile for espresso and milk-based coffee.
Is all Papua New Guinea coffee the same quality?
No. Quality can vary significantly between regions, farms, processing systems and individual lots. Careful selection and tasting are important when buying PNG coffee.
Why can PNG coffee taste different from year to year?
Coffee is agricultural. Weather, rainfall, harvesting, processing, storage and seasonal conditions all change between crops, so even coffee from the same region can taste different each year.
Is PNG coffee naturally low in acidity?
Not necessarily. PNG coffee can contain vibrant acidity, but high-quality examples often balance that acidity with sweetness, body and chocolate characteristics, making the cup feel rounded rather than sharp.
Why does myCuppa use Papua New Guinea coffee in blends?
PNG can contribute sweetness, body, fruit and chocolate characteristics without overwhelming the blend. Its versatility makes it useful for creating complex espresso coffees that also perform well with milk.
What is Goroka coffee?
Goroka is a major coffee-growing area in Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands. Coffees from the surrounding Highlands are known for their sweetness, complexity and distinctive fruit characteristics.
Why is PNG coffee personally important to myCuppa?
Papua New Guinea was where our founder first experienced truly distinctive origin coffee more than 30 years ago. Those early experiences helped trigger a much deeper interest in coffee quality, sourcing and roasting that eventually became part of the foundation of myCuppa.
