Timor
Organic   Maubisse   Peaberry   Lot No. 05

    East Timor is a fledgling democracy in the Indonesian Archipelago; a country that is still struggling to achieve a stable civil society, an effort in which coffee has played an important role.  The country was once reviled as a source of low-grade poorly processed beans, but with the help of New York-born Sam Filiaci, it is gaining renown as a producer of fine quality washed organic specialty coffee.
    Sam moved to the region more than 22 years ago, married the daughter of a Sulawesi chief, and has started numerous USAID projects to help improve and diversify the local economy, not the least of which is the coffee program.  The farms are located around the mountain town of Maubisse, and are actually more like naturalized coffee forests, shaded by Casuarina trees, and punctuated by clumps of bamboo, banana palms, orchids and Luciana Leucosefola, a pod-bearing legume that secures nitrogen to the soil.  The arabica variety Hybrido de Timor is carefully cultivated without artificial fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.  The beans are harvested in our summer months, washed and sun-dried at the mill in Maubisse, and sent to the capital Dili for sorting and grading in the dry mill.   Organically-grown vanilla beans are also produced by the cooperative. 
    All of the coffee is produced by the Cooperativa Café Timor, and it receives its organic certification from Skal International, an organic certification agency based in the Netherlands.  This lot is also a Fair Trade coffee, certified by TransFair International.  Coffee production by the co-op is one of the bright spots in the recent history of East Timor.  The farmers have survived civil unrest, social upheaval and a war for independence, and are committed to continued improvement of their agricultural products, as well as their standard of living.

Personal Appraisal: This coffee reminds me of an “Old Government Estate” Java.  It has that rich creamy mouth-feel that I fondly associate with that famous source.  The cup has a very mild citrusy acidity, light sweetness, medium body and aromatic notes of roasted nuts, wood and milk chocolate.