Papua New Guinea - Big Red

One of my favorite coffees, definitely some intricate notes to be discovered

If you’ve never had a coffee from a Maragogype bean or “Elephant Bean” as it’s commonly known, you’re missing out! This single origin Big Red from Papa New Guinea is a special and rare find.

PNG is an equatorial nation and is dominated by rain forest, with one of its primary trees being a cottonwood variety. It is because of this that your nose will immediately pick up notes of light florals and wood. On the palette, you will pick up a great earthiness backed up by a subtle fruit, similar to dark, ripe cherries. The body tends to lean towards a medium/heavy, which keeps the acidity on the light/medium side. The finish of this brew will stay with you for quite a while, reminding you of what a great cup of coffee you just had and wanting more.

This is truly a great sourcing by the guys at Heady Cup, and you should grab some while it’s available! And as they are one of the first to offer a single-origin from PNG, I’m so happy to have them as a local roaster that I can stop by to pick up my orders and talk shop with!

The "elephant bean" lives up to its name. My wife who only mildly follows my coffee obsession gave a yelp of surprise at how different the beans look. I love the story of working with the people of Papua New Guinea to lift up their coffee growers to today's specialty coffee requirements. This product is very promising.

I had to brew my first Aeropress the moment I got the beans home. I'm usually dialed for a pretty light roast and I haven't experimented with different settings yet. Fresh off the roaster, the coffee was very nostalgic. Anyone who tastes it immediately says, "this reminds me of something". It almost tasted like a super-premium instant coffee. Just a very "regular" coffee flavor, but free of defects. My wife hates smoky flavors found in popular coffees. This was the first cup of black coffee she ever swiped from me. It was like a really good cup of drip coffee you'd get at your favorite diner. I'd definitely consider it for drip, pourover, etc.

I was scheduled for a week at my parents' house so I let the beans rest in the fridge. When I returned the coffee was showing some more mature flavors. The nose is still a little vegetal and earthy, like a leafy forest in fall. The taste is still so comforting. Just a touch of acidity and mouthfeel like the aftertaste of black cherry or grand marnier, as described. It's like if you had a really good cup of diner coffee and you're eyeing a piece of dark toast with a bit of dark fruit preserves. As the coffee cools it gets deeper flavor, earthier and leafier, never showing negative characteristics. It's just... nice. Really good daily driver coffee. Very happy I got to try it, and I definitely look forward to the future.