Timor Leste Coffee

Timor Leste Coffee Beans

Have you tried the Mount Ramelau Coffee At Starbucks? Timor Leste Coffee is one of the best coffee experience in the world.

East Timor coffee has a medium to full body with an expansive taste and an acidity that is vibrant yet low-toned.

Occasional inconsistencies in harvesting and processing may produce coffee defects resulting in musty and/or hard qualities.

Coffee was first introduced by the Portuguese, who cultivated it to be one of the most sought after coffees of the time.

During the Indonesian occupation, Timorese coffee production declined sharply with many of the farms being abandoned.

After independence, coffee became and still remains Timor Leste’s most significant agricultural export product accounting for around 80% of all exports.

However, when put into perspective, an exported quantity of 2,500 tonnes of green beans is a tiny amount compared to the 65,000 tonnes of imported green beans into Australia.

East Timor Coffee Plant Varietals – Hybrido de Timor

An interspecific hybrid of Robusta (Coffea canephora var. robusta) and Coffea arabica, the Hybrido de Timor coffee plant varietal was first discovered in the 1940s on the island of Timor.

Timor Leste coffee plants began to be cultivated due to their strong resistance to coffee leaf rust, a disease that afflicts most coffee plant species.

The Catimor Coffee Plant Varietal

The Hybrido de Timor coffee plant varietal has also been crossed with the Caturra varietal (Coffea Arabic var. caturra) to produce the Catimor varietal (Coffea Arabica var. catimor), which is also resistant to coffee leaf rust.

Export of East Timor coffee is limited and it’s generally difficult to find wholesale distributors that carry green coffee beans.

The Politics of Coffee Growing in Timor

Coffee grown in Timor was considered a classic coffee bean though the country’s coffee industry saw a decline due to political turmoil and other causes. More recently Timor’s coffee industry has received assistance from international agencies, though political issues remain a serious concern.

The Timor varietal has 44 chromosomes and resembles the Arabica coffee plant. Timor Leste coffee is also called Tim Tim Coffee, Bor Bor Coffee, Hybrido de Timor Coffee.

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