Quality control improves outcome of coffee: Firm

By PETER ESILA
QUALITY control of coffee is important, a local coffee company says.
Ben Shelley, general manager of local coffee company in Eastern Highlands Nowek Ltd, said coffee volume had decreased over recent years.
Shelley said last year’s coffee parchment price averaged between K4.50 to K5.50 per kg and this year, the price averaged K4 and below.
“We can greatly improve in terms of quality by focusing on improving quality control,” he said.
“For example, with the farmer, the picking of ripe cherries only and same-day processing of those ripe cherries greatly improves the overall outcome or cupping taste of the coffee bean. Unfortunately, not all farmers, factories adhere to quality control selling.
“Buying over-ripe, fermented or under-ripe cherry decreases the quality of the coffee.
“Strengthening quality control can improve our standing or reputation in the world market and eventually demand a better price for PNG coffee.”
Shelley said the challenges facing local coffee companies were a decrease in coffee volume, increase in new coffee mills all feeding from the same declining coffee crop and deteriorating and lack of road infrastructure.
Nowek Ltd, which operates at Kamaliki outside Goroka, since 2016 has been distributing coffee seedlings to students and farmers as a way to encourage people to work the land.
They have distributed as of Aug 12, a total of 35,535 free seedlings to students and farmers in the province.