048: Papua New Guinea. Baroida Estate. Natural
Papua New Guinea. Baroida Estate
Natural
Arusha, Typica & Bourbon
Origin: Papua New Guinea
Region: Baroida, Eastern Highlands
Producer/Farm: The Colbran Familyy
Altitude: 1700-1850 masl
Varietal: Arusha, Typica & Bourbon
Process: Natural
Harvest: 2023
Importer: Sucafina
Cupping Score: 86.50
FOB/Volume: £10.50 per Kg / 60 Kilos
Roasted for Espresso/Filter Coffee
The Story:
Baroida Estate is located in the Kainantu District, Eastern Highlands Province. The estate was founded by Ben Colbran in the 1960’s when the Government encouraged foreign agriculturalists to begin cultivating land throughout the highlands. Ben first purchased the land from a native man named Taro and was amongst the first farmers to cultivate coffee in these valleys. Today, Ben’s son Nicol runs the plantation.
The name ‘Baroida’ comes from the Baroida spirit, believed by locals to reside in a large river rock sitting in one of the main rivers flowing through the estate. This particular rock has stubbornly remained in the middle of the river for as long as anybody can remember, refusing to budge through the most severe floods, even when other rocks have been washed away.
The Baroida plantation sits at the apex of the Lamari river valley and Mount Jabarra range. The plantation itself sits at about 1,691 meters above sea level amongst thousands of hectares of cleared land with former colonial coffee estates surrounding them (now run by native landowners) and flanked by mountains filled with smallholder coffee producers who cultivate close to a million trees.
The Colbran Family
Ben Colbran pioneered coffee growing in the Eastern Highlands, especially in Kianantu District. Colbran moved from New Zealand to PNG in 1963 with his wife, Norma, and their three children, Jill, Sandra and Nichol.
Colbran purchased a farm of around 600 acres (242 hectares) and due to the cost of the transaction needed to begin making money as soon as possible! He started with vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, and fruit, such as strawberries. These crops flourished in the highlands and were much sought after in the port city’s markets. With the money he earned, he would buy goods such as sugar, tea and flour that were hard to get in the highlands. In this way, he slowly saved enough money to set up a sawmill, which he saw as a better means of generating funds for his new coffee farm – which had been the dream all along!
From that time forward, Ben ran Colbran Coffeelands as one of the most notable coffee estates in all of PNG. His son, Nicol, who had lived in the country virtually his whole life, had helped him from a very early age. When Ben Colbran sold the farm in 1979 and moved to Australia, Nichol stayed and worked in the farm’s management under the new owners. Nichol has lived on the Colbran Coffeelands estate since age 6, when his family moved to Papua New Guinea. In 1997, he bought the farm back and has been the Owner and Director of the farm ever since.
Today the farm composes around 220 hectares of mature coffee trees alongside some sections of newer plantings. Colbran Coffeelands also works with farms and farmers in the surrounding region, offering processing and marketing support.