PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – It Is a very sad day, Mr. VS Jon Yogiyo (“Jon”), a legendary “coffee man” from the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea left us on August 21, 2024 to take his seat in the heaven.
Jon Yogiyo was a proud Papua New Guinean. He had 45 years of solid and varied coffee industry experience as a coffee farmer, exporter, agronomist, coffee research executive and chief executive officer.
As a highly regarded agronomist and coffee farmer, Jon created the “Tree to Cup “concept which was subsequently adopted by Starbucks. Accordingly, Jon was highly respected in the United States coffee market due to his innovative work marketing PNG coffee in the United States.
Importantly, Jon co-founded the first down stream vertically integrated organic and fair-trade certified coffee company in the consumer market of Berkeley, California. Leading to the famous Economist Magazine characterizing Jon as a “Out of Box” thinker in Agriculture in 2006.
Jon was an honest man with integrity. He devoted his entire life finding ways to improve the living standard of his fellow brothers and sisters of Papua New Guinea. Jon started Bauka school with his wife Mary to educate the children of the coffee farmers.
Jon’s understanding of the global coffee market, farming techniques and coffee quality was clearly reflected in the quality of his Bauka Blue Coffee. These are some of the finest coffees to drink, giving consumers a classic majestic and pure balanced coffee, with 100/100 ratings.