Timor Maubesse • Fair Trade Organic

Remarkably balanced with a rich body and citrus overtones

Until the mid 1970s, East Timor was a Portuguese colony. What little coffee that was grown in East Timor came from large, poorly managed plantations with absentee Portuguese ownership. It was inferior and expensive – not a good combination. Then, on August 27, 1975, the Portuguese Colonial government simply left the island in the middle of the night.

The hastily created democratic government that filled this sudden void was faced with an economy that made East Timor the poorest nation on earth. Before being conquered by Indonesia, the inefficient coffee cartel of the Portuguese was replaced with small, independently-owned farms and cooperatives. With the help of international coffee agencies, the Timorese growers implemented cultivation and processing methods that placed them on the leading edge of the organic coffee movement. By default, they could not afford the fertilizers, insecticides, and machinery used in traditional methods.

East Timor is finally once again entering into the world as an independent state, largely due to the economic success of their revitalized coffee industry. Though still a relative newcomer to the coffee market, Timor Maubesse is already being heralded as one of the world’s greatest coffees. It is a remarkably balanced coffee with the deep, rich body characteristic to the region with a slightly citrus finish reminiscent of the finer coffees of Central America. It is a symphony of flavors in a cup. It is still sometimes difficult to purchase, but it is well worth the search.

1 lb • $10.25
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