Coffee is one of the most important cash crops in Papua New Guinea and is the mainstay of the economies of several Highlands provinces, with an estimated almost three million people dependent on income from it. Ever since its introduction to the Highlands, coffee has been seen as ‘men’s business’ and the continuation of this remnant from Papua New Guinea’s colonial past is now a source of domestic conflict. To examine this issue, this In Brief draws on recent research among coffee smallholders in the Eastern Highlands Province.