The Baroida Plantation, located in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, was founded by Ben Colbran in the 1960s. Ben first purchased the land from a native man named Taro and they were amongst the first people to cultivate crops in these valleys. In 1965, the government encouraged the early settlers to start growing coffee as a long-term sustainable crop. Ben started to plant coffee trees becoming one of the first coffee producers of the Eastern Highlands The Colbran Family is now in its third generation with Ben’s son Nichol and grandson Chris running Baroida plantation. Through either luck or good design, the Baroida plantation sits at the apex of the Lamari river valley and Mount Jabarra range. The plantation itself is at about 1700 meters amongst thousands of hectares of cleared land with former colonial coffee estates surrounding them (now run by native landowners) and flanked by mountains (up to 2300 meters) filled with small holder coffee producers. I visited this season, which was a large crop but a difficult one too. All the coffee came in a short time span, and the drying of parchment from the smallholder neighbors that the Colbrans buy from did not seem good, in my opinion. That is why this lot, from their own farm, seemed to have better picking and processing, since it is all done under the control of the estate.

This coffee really jumps out on a table of other PNG coffees from the Western areas for it's sweet aromatics. The dry fragrance has slightly winey, ripe-fruit notes (quince jam, apple, pear). The wet aroma is a little less fruited, with a nice honey-on-toast scent. There are spice notes too; cinnamon and a little nutmeg. The cup is really nice; red apple dominates when the coffee is hot, with the same cinnamon and nutmeg found in the aroma coming through clearly in the sapid flavor. The body is not too thick, but seems syrupy and pleasing. The coffee finishes with sweet mulling spice notes, and a bit of orange peel. Dark roasts can be a little smokey in the roast taste: I prefer City to City+ roast, although the coffee appears a bit uneven and wrinkly in surface texture.

Tairora Smallholder coffee is a project from the Baroida Plantation, located in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The Colbran Family grows and processes their own coffee from the Baroida Estate, which we sell under that name, as well as buying coffee cherry direct from smallholder farmers in the area. Some of these are communities that the Colbrans have worked with for years, and others walk to the Baroida mill to sell their coffee fruit because they offer a premium price. These farmers can have as few as 100 trees, and produce only handfuls of coffee cherry at a time, but are situated from 1800 up to 2000 meters. I visited this season, and noticed that the price they were paying was higher than what other buyers, including multinational mills, were paying. Many small farms hand-pulp their own coffee, and sell wet parchment. This is not ideal, as the multitude of musty-smelling bags of this coffee attested to.

The dry fragrance has raw honey and dark milk chocolate, with berry hints. Adding hot water, the aroma reveals further compelling chocolate notes with a slight sweet-smokey hint, dark caramelized sugars, and dried fruit. Floral scents emerge on the break, a dusky wildflower note. The cup has a nice fruited sweetness, jam-like, with traces of heather flowers. The brightness is malic (apple-like) and has bosc pear. Dark roasts can be a little smokey in the roast taste: I prefer City to City+ roast, although the coffee appears a bit uneven and wrinkly in surface texture.