Coffee of the Month - July 2025, Papua New Guinea, Mile High Arokara

Mile High is the A grade offering from the Arokara Co-op, it’s grown in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea on the outskirts of Kainantu at an altitude of 1 mile above sea level. Arokara is a co-operative of plantations throughout the valley, the largest of which are Tairora and Gadsup. The plantations were originally set up by the Rural Development bank using modern farming methods but in the last 10-15 years they have been returned to ownership of traditional landowner groups who don’t use any chemicals or fertilizers in the production process. Today, many PNG plantations are collections of coffee gardens - these are small plots of as few as 20 plants which are grown alongside subsistence crops. The cherries are hand-picked, pulped on the same day and fermented in cement vats for 36 hours, after this process the coffee is washed with fresh mountain stream water. The beans are then sun dried for 7-12 days during which time they achieve their even blue green colour. The co-op employs between 20 – 60 people from the surrounding villages depending on the season, in the surrounding community between 10,000 and 12,000 people depend on coffee exporting for income.

Growing Altitude: 1300 - 1600 masl

Milling process: Washed, Sun-Dried

Aroma: Fruity

Body: Creamy

Acidity: Juicy, Winey

Cup Characteristics:

Honey, Dark Chocolate,

Plum, Orange, Herbal