Roast of the Week : Papua New Guinea Sigri

The new 08/09 crop Sigri is in the House.
And what a success. People adore this clean and wild (what a combination) bean with it's remarkable spicy finish. I think it never happened before we did sell so much coffee of a new crop in it's first week of roast.
What's the story behind this bean?

>>Sigri Coffee Estate in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea was established in the 1950's. The altitude of the Waghi Valley where this coffee plantation is located is 1800 meter above sea level, and the size of the estate, and their sister estate, Bunum Wo, which have both gained the reputation of producing the finest quality coffee in the country, is about 1123 hectares.

Sigri plantation enjoys a cool climate because of its high altitude and bountiful rainfall, an ideal environment for growing this typica and arusha varieties of arabica coffees.

The plantation employs about 6000 people in the peak harvesting season, and about half that number live permanently in company owned housing on the plantation. It is estimated that for every employee, there are approximately six dependents that rely on the plantation for their livelihood.

Sigri plantation's main crop harvest runs from April through to September. Quality begins in the field, and ripe cherry is handpicked and carefully checked for uniformity, and it must be red and fully ripe before pulping on the same day that it is picked.
The coffee mill at Sigri is one of the most up-to-date in PNG, employing German made machinery of the Paul Kaack brand. It is designed around a central conditioning section where all dried coffee at the parchment stage is brought.

The coffee is fermented for a total of three days, broken by washing every 24 hours.

The Sigri processing follows this fermentation by a total immersion in water for another day, which creates a superior quality. Gentle sun drying further enhances the quality of the coffee.

Careful conditioning, hulling, grading and hand sorting follows. This combined with a rigorous quality control and a final hand sort before packing and shipping provides the roaster with only the finest coffees from Sigri.
The strict quality control includes daily and careful cup testing by Sigri plantations senior management, to ensure that the quality of Sigri's coffees remains consistently excellent.<<


I know this all sounds a bit too technical for some people. Don't panic, just drop by and have a cup.....
Your Antwerp Barista.