Timor-Leste (or East Timor) is back for a fresh harvest season. It has been a real crowd pleaser the last couple of seasons and we are very excited to have it back on the menu! We actually had the change to catch up with the farmers of Tau-Rema during the harvest season in 2023 - watch the video.
 
This lot from the remote mountain village of Tau-Rema is deep, rich and spicy with notes of dark chocolate, red grapes and a more subtle and spicy sweetness like raw cane sugar. It makes for a satisfyingly potent brew. As Espresso it comes out lip-smackingly rich and mixes very well with milk.
 
Background Info:
 
Timor-Leste is a very young sovereign republic in Southeast Asia, having only gained its independence from Indonesia in 2002. Coffee was brought to Timor-Leste under Portuguese colonial rule in the 1500s and has been cultivated there ever since. Centuries of occupation, war and civil unrest have left Timor-Leste behind in economic development. Coffee has always been an important export commodity and the coffee quality has been increasing drastically over the last 10-15 years. However, farmers are still facing challenges regarding the country’s poor infrastructure and their access to international buyers. Our sourcing partners Kar Yee and Stewart from Karst Organics saw the potential in the beautiful and organically grown coffee they encountered here and set out to do something about that situation.
 
They have been working and living with their partner farmers in the Letefoho region directly during the harvest season since 2019, steadily building relationships through trust, cultural sensitivity and fair prices. Part of the profit they make goes back to their producing farmers every year to finance infrastructure and quality improvements. They have recruited a small team of field managers from amongst the farmer groups they work with and together they have come a long way already with big plans for the future. Last year we had the great pleasure of getting a virtual farm tour from Simao, who has become a key team member for them over the years. Watch the tour here.
 
The Tau-Rema cooperative consists of only 9 farmers and due to the remoteness of the village the logistics of getting up there for regular quality checks during harvest season and getting the coffee ready-for-export down to the port are not without challenges. Both Simao and Domingos, who is lead farmer for Tau-Rema, have proven instrumental in this collaboration time and time again. Due to the support of the Karst team, the Tau-Rema producers are seeing a definite increase in quality and income. Their coffee is a washed process coffee, cultivated using traditional farming methods in harmony with nature and without artificial inputs: coffee cherries are selectively picked (only the ripe cherries are harvested), sorted and pulped. The coffee seeds are then fermented in fresh mountain water for 40-44 hours and monitored for quality closely. Once the fermentation process is complete the coffee is washed in clean water and transferred to raised netted beds to dry in the sun for 7-10 days.