Specialty green coffee importers
We work with single estates and smallholder networks across Papua New Guinea, bringing roasters a full range of relationship coffees since 2015.
Watch — Benchmark Coffee Traders
From the Highlands of Papua New Guinea to roasters across America.
Benchmark Coffee Traders has direct relationships with producers at single estates and coordinates closely with smallholder networks across Papua New Guinea. We represent everything from blenders to top grades, connect roasters as directly as they like to production, and stay close to the chain. We represent a level of quality and traceability that is uncommonly found in PNG.
of PNG coffee is smallholder-aggregated parchment, often with inconsistent, incomplete drying from a mix of source areas and a mix of ages. It's a major reason PNG coffee is widely known for inconsistent quality and profile.
We work directly with single estates and smallholder networks and implement much more rigorous processing.
Our direct partners include single estates — Sigri, Bunum Wo, and Kindeng — alongside the Kinmuga network and other smallholder networks across the Highlands, including both the Eastern and Western Highlands.
PNG has a dual crop cycle — a main crop from May to August/September and a fly crop in February/March. We source across the early, mid, and late main crop as well as the fly crop, staggering shipments to bring coffee in year-round for our core partners, with an emphasis on main crop coffees for our rotating single origin partners.
A full range, from everyday blenders to top-grade single origins.
Our program
We keep two to three offerings in every category a roasting program needs — darker roast blenders, seasonal blenders, single origins, washed and natural processes, and limited releases — all sourced from the same small set of direct partners.
Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province
One of the very few true single estates left in PNG — able to manage nursery-to-container production in-house. A rigorous washed process, three-day fermentation with a further day of total immersion, and 21 days of conditioning. Home of our trademark "Kula" lots.
Sigri Estate profile
Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province
Grown above 4,500 feet with a medium-density shade strategy that supports at least 90 bird species. A washed Arabica with the same rigorous wet-factory process as Sigri — hand-picked, pulped same-day, and carefully conditioned before grading and hand-sorting.
Bunum Wo profile
South Waghi Valley, Jiwaka Province — regional smallholder network
Smallholder plots along the Wara Tuman river, in soil enriched by an extinct volcano — long known as "the food bowl of PNG." Cherries are processed at the Kindeng wet mill and Kagamuga dry mill. Distinct lots include Kinmuga Peaberry (apple, dried pineapple, honey) and Kinmuga Natural (pear, mango, hibiscus).
Kinmuga profile
Eastern Highlands Province — blending program
Two workhorse lots built for blending: PNG Y1 (peach, tobacco, green apple, earth round) and PNG B17 (dark chocolate, brown sugar, molasses, almond, golden raisin, clean, balanced) — dependable, easy-drinking coffees for house and wholesale blends.
Eastern Highlands profileWe also maintain relationships with producers in a handful of other origins. These are available to roasters on request — inquire for current lots.
Why PNG
For roasters who want to represent the world of coffee, the Indo-Pacific is a hard region to source well. High-quality coffees that speak to the specialty coffee market are hard to find, and ones that align with specialty values — traceability, community investment — are rarer still. A high-quality relationship coffee from PNG can be a strong, distinctive addition to a program that doesn’t yet carry anything from the region.
Our PNG coffees carry enough sweetness without tipping sugary, and enough acidity without turning sharp — which is why they hold up black and work just as well with cream and sugar. They’re well-balanced, easy-drinking cups: elevated enough for a specialty program, comforting enough for an everyday drinker.
For roasters
Whether you're buying by the container or a couple of bags at a time, we support the relationship the same way — hands on. You can expect attention, quick responsiveness, information, education, inventory management, and marketing support.
Coast-to-coast storage means fresh, consistent coffee year-round — we help forecast usage so you're never stuck without blend components.
Cafe and wholesale presentations, custom origin photography, and branded sacks — help telling the story behind the cup.
Every coffee we sell helps fund the social projects above — payment goes directly to our producer partners.
Warehousing
Midwest — Theta Ridge Coffee
6879 Enterprise Dr
South Bend, Indiana 46628
East Coast — Continental Terminals
200 Middlesex Ave
Carteret, NJ 07008
West Coast — The Annex
300 Mitchell Ave
Alameda, CA 94501
Reach out for current lots, tasting notes, and samples — or to talk through what your program needs.
Request a Sample
Social projects
Fair prices are the floor, not the ceiling.
We fund and directly engage in annual social projects focused on tangible results in education, water access, and health.
Elementary Schools
Funded textbooks for elementary schools across the Highlands, built a new school in partnership with Deeper Roots Coffee, and opened a new school library most recently. Combined, these projects serve thousands of children.
Water Tanks
Funded and installed across communities without piped water, cutting hours once spent hauling water from rivers.
Women's Health
With QueenPads, funded reusable hygiene products and educational sessions for women across our producing communities.
Vision Clinics
Free vision screenings for pickers, mill staff, and hand-sorters, in collaboration with the Fred Hollows Foundation, Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH), and the University of Illinois at Chicago.