Timor-Leste is a Southeast Asian country that takes up half the island of Timor in the Indonesian archipelago. Spanning at 5,760 square miles, this mountainous country is roughly the size of the state of Connecticut, and its tropical climate and fertile volcanic soils create an ideal environment for growing coffee. Coffee was introduced to the island during Portugese colonization, with the eastern half of the Timor island, now Timor-Leste, controlled by the Portugese, and the Western side, now part of Indonesia, then controlled by Dutch colonists. Coffee was produced by private landowners, and when Indonesia occupied the entire island in the 1970s, coffee producers abandoned their farms and production decreased. It wasn’t until after Timor-Leste gained independence in 2002 that coffee became a government-controlled export. Coffee is now the country’s largest cash crop, making up 80% of the nation’s overall exports, and 25% of the population relies on coffee production. Although it makes up less than 1% of the global coffee supply, Timor-Leste has gained recognition for producing high quality, organic coffee.
Café Brisa Serena (CBS) is a social enterprise and exporter, and has spent the last 10 years developing smallholder coffee value chains. They work with over 400 farmers in the Letefoho area of the Ermera Municipality. CBS was formed in close collaboration with Peace Winds Japan, a Japanese NGO that had been working in Timor-Leste’s coffee lands during the first decade after independence. Then, violence and crumbled infrastructure had disenfranchised many remote coffee communities. CBS continued the development work of Peace Winds, and in 2015 they began a formalized special coffee export chain. They are now a highly capable exporter with some of the best smallholder traceability in the world. In 2014, CBS opened Letefoho Specialty Coffee Roaster as a way to serve coffee to locals, promote high quality coffee produced by smallholder farmers from Ermera, and offer job opportunities for youth to develop their career in the coffee and hospitality industry.
Café Brisa Serena opened Letefoho Specialty Coffee Roaster to serve locals and supply coffee beans to supermarkets, hotels, and restaurants in the Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. They roast coffee from smallholder farmers from Ermera.
When we first showcased Timor-Leste coffee on our menu last year, we purchased coffee from Café Brisa Serena and featured a mixed lot from the Letefoho Sub-District of Ermera. This year, the coffee comes from the group Lebudu Kraik, which translates to “lower wetlands” and comes from their particular location on the mountainside. The group consists of 10 farmers from the Ducurai Village in Letefoho. They pick only ripe cherries and process them within 72 hours of picking. The cherries are floated in water twice to sort for density and defects before being washed and dried on raised beds.
The result of good farming and meticulous processing results in a sweet and clean coffee. At first sip, it has a sweetness similar to lemonade, but it quickly mellows to easygoing flavors of shortbread and honeycomb. Coffees from Timor-Leste were selling out quickly when they landed in the US, and we’re excited we got the last bags of this gulpable lot!