Okay, it is a continent, and an island. But how do you classify Australian coffee? Well, it bears resemblance in the cup to the soft, sweet "Island Coffee" flavor profile, so I have stretched the description a bit, geographically. Coffee cultivation began in Australia in 1880 and continued through 1926, but was found to be generally unprofitable, and the quality of the coffee to be poor. It was re-established in the early 1980's in much the same areas as the original plantations on the Eastern coast in New South Wales up to Queensland.

Coffee is now farmed from Nimbin and Lismore, in New South Wales, to Cape York in far north Queensland where the large Skybury plantation is located. Skybury and the other larger plantations, near Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands, are fully mechanized, but there are smaller farms where traditional hand cultivation is used.

When coffee cultivation was restarted in the 1980s, initial plantings were based on the local cultivar Kairi Typica and Bourbon, Arusha, Caturra and Blue Mountain imported from PNG. Yields were disappointing though, and unfortunately the farmers were putting yield above cup quality. Some newer cultivars have now been evaluated by QDPI and NSW Agriculture. The recommended cultivars for northern Queensland include Catuai Rojo, K7, SL6, Mundo Novo, Catuai Amarillo and Kieperson. For the cooler subtropical areas of northern NSW and southern Queensland, K7 and SL14 are preferred for warmer sites, and a local selection CRB is suitable for cooler locations. Hopefully, we will see small farms specialize in traditional cultivars in the near future.

Mount Warning, near Nimbin, New South Wales, Australia. Mountain Top Estate is near.