East Timor and it's coffee

During our bus trip we noticed the many coffee plantations. Coffee seems to be East Timor's most important export good since their colonial period with Portugal. Coffee is so important that it counts for 80% of the total export. Nevertheless a lot of these important economic coffee planations were ruined during the genocide. Farmers and their families were deported or killed, their farms, plantations and harvest were destroyed. A disaster since coffee is the most important profit source for East Timor and 15 % of it's inhabitants.

To see these plantations we went to Maubisse which are located more in the centre of the country where the most coffee plantations are located. To get there we had a rough and bumpy ride through a mountainous, silent and beautiful nature. This area, next to mountain Ramelau, can be 1000 metres above sea level. So the climate there was chilly, about a 15° C. Ofcourse some of us forgot to take a sweater...

We could smell at the heavenly odeur that we had arrived. The local farmers welcomed us very enthusiasticly yet they're going to a rough time. The rebuilding of the coffee industry is tough and it has been estimated that the coffee industry will only be recovered in a decade. That's why the initiative Timor Cooperativa Café was created. It gathers 20000 local producers and fairtrade organisations help out this initiative.

We've heared that the coffee from East Timor is one of the most exquisite in the world and we all agree! And for all of you, the ones who stayed home, go to Starbucks and taste it yourself because they use fairtrade coffee from East Timor. Starbucks purchases 40% of the coffee production made in East Timor. So there is a demand towards the very smooth coffee of East Timor.

Enjoy your coffee!

Amina

Source:https://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2010/s2888080.htm