Epi coffee farmers make first harvest

By Anita Roberts Oct 1, 2016, Vanuatu Daily Post

Epi Coffee Farmrs, Vanuatu

This year marks a milestone for the Mafilau Coffee Farmers Association on the island of Epi since 2012 when it was given 2,000 coffee seedlings to get on its feed just after establishment.

The seedlings were delivered by the Tanna Coffee and Vanuatu Agriculture Department. Four years later, the young and struggling association have celebrated its first harvest of 51kg green beans.

Formed in 2011, this coffee farmers association is headed by a female, Eny Yona.

Providing a stable production of coffee, enhancing the coffee industry and ensuring a steadfast income stream for more farmers in Vanuatu was the idea of supplying the seedlings to the small association, said the Operations Manager of the Tanna Coffee, Yasmine Adlington-Walden.

“We (the Tanna Coffee) have future plans to replicate this success story on many other islands in Vanuatu.

“We are proud of the achievement of the Epi farmers. We will continue to support them as they grow, develop and value add to the country’s coffee industry, said another Tanna Coffee Spokesperson, Nambas Jacob Samuel. Mr Samuel went to the Epi to visit the farmers on Epi and has supplied an addition 32kg of coffee seeds to boost production.

The Mafilau Coffee Farmers Association has also been provided with a coffee pulper machine.

It is a device used to remove the pulp from a coffee cherry after it has been harvested. The cherries are passed through a pulping machine for the skin and pulp to be separated from the coffee bean.

An occasion was held at the village of Mafilau on west Epi to commemorate the first Epi coffee harvest.

Councillor of the west area council, Joseph Merip, who is also the leading cocoa farmer on Epi said the soil on the island is ideal for growing both cocoa and coffee.

“Its high time that the farmers on Epi start growing more cash crops like cocoa, coffee and kava.

“Epi’s coffee flavor is unique, similar to its cocoa”, he added.

The coffee association is small but it is growing slowly, he said.

A Recipe For “The Perfect Cup”!

SO… How can you find the world’s best coffee,
at a reasonable price, and then enjoy it with absolute overflowing satisfaction?

English: Roasted coffee beans photographed using a macro technique. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ok, Ok, so What EXACTLY IS the World’s Best Coffee?

There are six factors to consider when searching for “The Perfect Cup”, at least two of which are often overlooked. The good news is that the path to “Coffee Nirvana” is real. I mean, at least in my humble opinion, it does exist. The bad news is…you can screw it up almost anywhere along the way! (Much like life, grasshoppoh…) The factors are as follows:

1) Your coffee roaster/retailer must start with the very best quality green coffee beans obtainable.

2) It must be purchased fresh roasted AND whole bean from a reputable roasting company.

3) You must know what your favorite coffees are.

4) It must be properly stored.

5) It must be properly ground.

6) It must be properly brewed.

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The post A Recipe For “The Perfect Cup”! appeared first on Papua Coffee.

New standard required for PNG specialty coffee – expert

By JAMES KILA

THERE is greater need for an approved specialty coffee standard in Papua New Guinea if producers are to benefit financially in the international gourmet coffee market trade.

That was the advice by a visiting international coffee expert from Japan, Hidetaka Hayashi during a two-day visit to Goroka, Eastern Highlands province.

Mr Hayashi is the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of Japanese and a World renown coffee taster with a long history dating back to 1962. He is also a member of five international panel of judges in the “Cup of Excellence Program”, started by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 1999 following interests from the world’s quality conscious roasters.

Mr Hayashi’s trip to PNG was organised by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in collaboration with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) and the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC).

Mr Hayashi spent two days in Eastern Highlands where he visited the CIC’s research division at Aiyura as well as coffee estates in the Kainantu area. He also conducted two workshops on Tuesday attended by smallholder producers and exporters respectively.

He also had an opportunity to taste coffee samples from around the country and make expert assessment on the cup taste to determine flavour and quality of the coffee.

Mr Hayashi in his presentation stated that there are different criteria to judge and differentiate specialty coffee from the common or traditional coffee. The criteria and cupping form for the common coffee which is currently practiced by PNG are to check and examine defects and taints of coffee, mainly and accurately. On the other hand, specialty coffee is judged and differentiated by flavour profile of cup quality.

Additionally, Mr Hayashi request PNG coffee producers to be cautious in cultivating their coffee and apply correct harvesting and processing techniques to maintain quality from seed to the green bean.

He stated that the common coffee in the current world trade is under severe competition from high commercial premium coffee and specialty coffee.

According to Mr Hayashi, the current main-stream market which the industry is targeting for the common coffee is stagnant, therefore, an option PNG should look at is specialty markets in the United States and Japan which is on an upward trend.

The Chief Executive Officer of the CIC, Ricky Mitio in his welcome address on Tuesday stated that the CIC is not trying to jeopardise the existing traditional markets. However, priority is placed on quality as an avenue to getting premium price to producers.

“In order to escape the declining trend in the traditional market, improvement of quality level is very necessary,” Mr Mitio stated.

Managing Director of the Kongo Coffee Limited, a nationally own coffee exporting company in his address urged local PNG producers to organize themselves to connect to the specialty market.

Mr Kapka stated that Mr Hayashi is a very important person in the world specialty coffee trade and the coffee industry in the country must acknowledge the contribution he is making, especially his advice.

Kongo Coffee was able to break into the tough Japanese specialty coffee market through technical assistance from Mr Hayashi.

Ends…../

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