Kokoda Coffee

Sid Cariappa was born with a passion for coffee in his blood and a love of Papua New Guinea in his veins. Although being born in Bangalore, India, Sid moved to Papua New Guinea with his parents when he was just 3 months old.

At the very wise old age of two, Sid’s best friends in the whole world were Betsy, a generously proportioned and motherly hen who rode with him on his tricycle everywhere, and his native guardian Kambe. Kambe was a warrior and local plantation owner, who sold his coffee to Sid’s father’s coffee factory.
Anyone who has ever met a Papua New Guinean will know that they are very fond of children. Children are the most important people in the word to them, and so Sid and Kambe were instantly friends.

To this day Sid loves two things: a good roast chicken and a great cup of Papua New Guinean coffee.

As he grew up, Sid and his sister played on the enormous piles of coffee and climbed the gigantic coffee bag mountains in their Dad’s factory. He spent most of his childhood climbing trees, playing in the jungle and generally causing trouble. As they say in Papua New Guinea to this day, "You can take the Kanaka out of the bush but you can’t take the bush out of the Kanaka".

When his family moved to the remote town of Aseki in 1987, Sid was a huge hit among the locals. He was taught the art of hunting with the traditional weapons of the bush hunter: a bow and arrow and throwing spears, by the local tribesman who worked at and sold coffee to his father's factory. Every day, Sid would ride his tricycle down to his Dad's factory, to make his inspections and ensure everything was running to his satisfaction.  After inspection he would take the rest of the day off, a routine which he would very much like, but is not allowed to, continue today.

Papua New Guinea and its people are Sid's first love. As they say in Pidign, "Papua New Guinea em assplace belong Sid", or roughly translated, "Papua New Guinea is the place that Sid's ass first sat; therefore it is his home".

Sid is General Manager here at Kokoda Coffee and so is responsible for every aspect of the Kokoda Coffee experience.

He has his Kokoda Coffee straight black and would have it intravenously if possible.

Sid drinking a Kokoda Coffee espresso outside our Brisbane office