Eastern Highlands

Eastern Highlands is the centre of Papua New Guinea’s coffee industry. Around Goroka, where the Coffee Industry Corporation has its head office, and Kainantu, smallholders grow washed arabica in coffee gardens beside their sweet potatoes and vegetables. The province’s growers have won most of the country’s national cupping contests.

The short version

• Arabica at about 1,550–1,900 metres, from Goroka to Kainantu.
• Sweet, chocolatey and lemony, with a tea-like body.
• 37% or 58% of national output, depending on the source.
• Harvest about March to June.
• National cupping champions in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
• Kainantu, Okapa and Obura-Wonenara, remote districts with prize-winning coffee.

What does Eastern Highlands coffee taste like?

Sweet and chocolatey, with lemon. The Coffee Industry Corporation’s province profile lists sweet, cocoa, chocolate and spicy aromas, a tea-like body with good mouthfeel, a clean cup with a lemon taste, and a delicate, sweet, fruity, lingering aftertaste. Competition results show how good the best lots are:

Year	Winner	Area	Score
2013 (provincial)	Yagi Mountain Farmers	Henganofi	85.65
2014	Kanite Kirapim Association	Okapa
2015	Avina Coffee Cooperative	Kainantu
2016	Timuza Business Group	Kainantu	85.75

Source: The National. In 2016 Eastern Highlands groups took the first three places, and in 2015 three of the top four.

Coffee Review’s blind assessments of coffees from the province:

Year	Coffee	Score	Notes
2006	Arokara, Kainantu district	90	Smoky, chocolaty papaya; spice, sweet grapefruit
2015	Mile High, Kainantu district	91	Peach, roasted cacao nib, lily, walnut; round, vibrant acidity

Source: Coffee Review.

Where and how it grows

From Goroka to Kainantu the land lies at 1,548 to 1,898 metres, CIC says, between broad valleys and peaks of more than 3,000 metres such as Mount Michael (3,750 m). The wet season runs from December to early April and the dry season from about May. Most coffee comes from smallholders, and in remote areas with few other ways to earn money it is an extremely important source of income, ACIAR says. Yields are low, about 417 to 560 kg of parchment a hectare in a 2024 study of Eastern Highlands and Simbu, and around Asaro, near Goroka, some farmers were replacing coffee with vegetables for nearby markets. Over three-quarters of communities surveyed in 2024 in Eastern Highlands and Simbu said they had lost more than half their harvest to the coffee berry borer.

How much coffee does it grow?

Measure	Figure	Source
Share of national output	37%	UNCTAD, via Wikipedia
Share of national output	58%	CIC data, via ACIAR (2024)
Rank	Second, after Western Highlands	CIC province profile

CIC’s province pages date from about 2012, when Jiwaka was being split from Western Highlands; ACIAR’s figure is more recent. Neither gives a year.

Harvest

The 2023 season in Eastern Highlands and Simbu ran from about March to June, with the best prices at the start and end, when supply was short, IFPRI and the University of Goroka found. In ACIAR’s trial at Bena, coffee from higher villages matured later than coffee from the lower ones, and November to January was the off-season.

A short history

• 1937: a government research station at Aiyura, in the former Upper Ramu area, plants the first highland coffee from seed grown at Wau, and distributes it through the highlands, CIC says.
• 2013: Yagi Mountain Farmers of Henganofi win CIC’s cupping competition at the Goroka Show with 85.65.
• 2014–2016: Eastern Highlands groups win three national competitions in a row.

Eastern Highlands and other PNG origins

• Coffee in Papua New Guinea: the whole country, its exports and its history.
• Western Highlands and Jiwaka: the Wahgi Valley and Mount Hagen.
• Simbu: the rugged province between them.