Papua New Guinea Tungei Selection A Washed (Green)

Description

Region: Wahgi Valley

Farms: Tungei Selection Plantation

Arabica Varietals: Arusha, Typica and Bourbon

Soil: Clay Loam

Process: Washed

Altitude: 1400-2200

Screen Size: 15-17

Moisture: 10.5%

In the cup: Blackcurrant, walnut and malt with soft herbal notes. Delicate tropical like acidity. A heavy, yet smooth mouthfeel carries notes of hazelnut and chocolate to the finish.

The Tungei Selection Plantation standard is harvested in the Wahgi Valley region, in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The Wahgi Valley is home to the Tungei tribe, originally formed from six original clans – Komnemb, Ekiemb, Kenjpi-emb, Akamb, Eska, and Kupaka. The Tungei are credited with the discovery of stone axe quarries, from which they became famous for their manufacture of a stone axe called kunjin. The stone axes were widely traded in central New Guinea and attained a high-value until 1933 when production all but ceased following a sharp decline in demand. This decline was predominately due to the introduction and widespread circulation of pearshells – originally of equal value to stone axes, by the first Australian patrol to land in PNG earlier that year.

Today the Tungei depend on subsistence agriculture as a livelihood; raising pigs and growing sweet potatoes, corn, sugarcane, bananas and a great variety of green-leafed vegetables. Their land is ideally suited to coffee-growing, with altitudes ranging from 1400-2200 MASL. Many families have re-located their homes from more traditional sites at higher altitude in side valleys, to the floor of the Wahgi Valley, at about 1600 MASL, where coffee production is considerably easier and where the Highlands Highway allows people to come and go by bus and truck.