Timor-Leste is a South-East Asian country with independence for just over 20 years. As an emerging country, Timor-Leste is little known to outsiders. However, this small island nation has an unusual coffee history.
After a tortuous development process, East Timorese coffee has brought more surprises to people. According to statistics, Timor-Leste has become the 39th largest coffee producer in the world since 2019. As an important export product of Timor-Leste, coffee accounts for 25% of the country's total exports. Cup of fragrant coffee became the way to connect Timor-Leste with the world.
Photo: Kari Shea
Today we decipher Timor-Leste and its coffee development path.
01 Make coffee an industry
Timor-Leste is located on the eastern half of the island of Timor, with Indonesia to the west and north, and Australia across the sea to the east. The territory of East Timor includes the eastern and western Oecussi enclaves of Timor Island and the nearby island of Atauro.
Timor-Leste's geographical location in Southeast Asia is close to the southern edge↓
The territory of Timor-Leste lies between the Timor Sea, the Banda Sea, and the Savu Sea
Most of Timor-Leste's coffee is organically grown, with little use of chemicals and pesticides, both because Timor-Leste's own agriculture is more pristine and from the local people's pursuit of coffee quality, so Timorese coffee has won praise among more and more coffee lovers around the world.
Good coffee must have good water and soil. Timor-Leste is mostly mountainous and has extensive rainforests, while coastal plains and river valleys have a savannah climate, with dry and wet seasons throughout the year. Timor-Leste has high temperatures throughout the year, heavy rainfall and superior hydrothermal conditions. Especially in the vast mountainous hills and river valleys, forest resources are abundant, the temperature is suitable and the amount of water is abundant, which provides favorable geographical conditions for the production of coffee.
Mount Curi near Subot (Sabang) in Timor-Leste is high and densely forested, and it is a preferred place for growing coffee in the foothills valley area↓
图：Colin Trainor
The Hibrido de Timorese coffee variety, a descendant of a cross between Arabica and Robusta, is of better quality and grows better in Timor-Leste's fertile volcanic soils, resulting in better coffee quality.
The special feature of East Timorese coffee is that it is mostly wet processing, people pick the coffee cherries, peel and ferment, and process them in a completely washed way. Wet-processed coffee is slowly dried on parchment paper, and then further evaporated in the warehouse, and then hulled when the moisture value reaches about 10%, which better preserves the flavor of the coffee beans themselves.
People use traditional hemp rope bags to store coffee beans, and the transparent pores can prevent coffee beans from being damp, ensuring stable quality↓
Pictured: Annerella
In addition, coffee in Timor-Leste is more affordable, and coffee in Timor-Leste can be more than half as cheap as in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia.
Today, Timorese coffee is the country's largest export, and more than 25% of Timorese households are directly engaged in the coffee industry, and 46% of Timorese households depend on coffee for their income. As the world's 39th largest coffee producer, Timor-Leste produces 0.2% of the world's coffee annually.
Aromatic coffee brings sweetness to this long-suffering land.
The percentage of households growing coffee in all districts of Timor-Leste is the highest in mountainous and hilly areas in the central and western regions↓
02 The history of suffering, quenched sweet coffee
The history of East Timor is full of twists and turns, as well as numerous struggles.
In the Age of Discovery, East Timor was a Portuguese possession, and Portuguese rule began in 1520 and lasted until 1975, and for more than 400 years, control of East Timor was in Portuguese hands. Only between 1942 and 1945 did East Timor experience a brief period of Japanese occupation, after which East Timor resumed Portuguese rule.
In modern times, Portugal has developed local military forces in East Timor, the picture shows the Portuguese and East Timorese Barribo commander Macedo and East Timorese soldiers group photo ↓
图:Luis Macedo
After World War II, Portugal began to decolonize and abandon overseas colonies. Portuguese colonies around the world became independent, and East Timor declared independence on October 28, 1975, but was soon invaded by Indonesia and became the Indonesian province of East Timor.
Over the next 20 years, the East Timorese fought and fought the War of Independence. It was not until August 30, 1999, under the supervision of the United Nations, that the East Timorese held a referendum declaring independence from Indonesia, and then war broke out again and Indonesia once again occupied East Timor. During the war, more than 300,000 East Timorese became refugees and much of Timor-Leste's infrastructure was destroyed, which did not end until international peacekeepers intervened.
The permanent peacekeeping force of the United Nations in Timor-Leste, pictured is the M113 armored personnel carrier of the Australian 3/4th Cavalry Regiment↓
图：Geoffrey C. Gunn
With further United Nations involvement and mediation, Timor-Leste officially regained its independence on 20 May 2020, which is the contemporary State of Timor-Leste. The development of the coffee industry in Timor-Leste, like its tortuous historical process, has also experienced twists and turns.
Before 1975, the coffee industry in East Timor was controlled by the Portuguese, and during the Indonesian occupation, the coffee industry in East Timor was controlled by Indonesia, and it was not until the beginning of this century that East Timor completely freed itself from foreign control and completely controlled its own coffee industry. Timor-Leste has abolished previous landlord plantations and allowed more people to work directly in coffee operations, which has fed nearly 30% of the population.
People dry coffee beans in the barn, adults and children go out as a family, and coffee beans are the harvest and hope of the family↓
图：Walsh, Joseph M
The coffee-producing regions of Timor-Leste mainly include the regions of Ermera, Manufahi, Ainaro, Liquica, Elleu and Bobonaro, the most famous of which is Ermera. According to World Bank statistics, Ermera accounts for about 50% of Timor-Leste's total coffee production, and the benefits of these coffees have further boosted the enthusiasm of the people for coffee production. In particular, the regional characteristics of organic coffee in Timor-Leste have been called "among the top 1% in the world in terms of quality and price" by the famous coffee expert Alf Kramer.
The dense forest in the Ermera production area can effectively balance the temperature and humidity, ensure the water supply of the coffee garden at the foot of the mountain, and facilitate the cultivation of high-quality coffee↓
The location of Ermera is located southwest of Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste
After unremitting efforts, Timor-Leste's coffee industry has now developed, and its coffee production is comparable to traditional coffee producing countries in the equatorial region such as Indonesia, Colombia, and Ethiopia, and Timor-Leste's coffee tastes more simple and coffee has lower acidity, which has brought it more international reputation.
03 Dilemma and way out
According to the UNDP study, rapid deforestation has become a growing problem in Timor-Leste and that the growing coffee industry can help alleviate the problem. At the same time, the Natural Resources Defense Council stated that "agroforestry systems, including those involving coffee, contribute to the national economic and ecological stability of Timor-Leste". All these have provided support for the development of the coffee industry in Timor-Leste.
However, as a backward country with economic development, Timor-Leste still has many difficulties in infrastructure, agricultural technology, industrial capital, etc., which also limit the development of Timor-Leste's coffee industry.
As a result of the perennial war, Timor-Leste's infrastructure is old, especially road transport facilities. As a result of the fighting, most of Timor-Leste's roads have been abandoned or fallen into disrepair.
Most of the roads in Timor-Leste are dirt roads, and the picture shows the rural roads in the Mariana region, full of mud and puddles↓
图：Felix Dance
Part of the road is paved with a layer of stones, but under the weight of passing vehicles, it gradually sinks into muddy water and loses its breath↓
In addition to the capital Dili, transportation throughout the country is not convenient, which also leads to high transportation costs, people have to use manual transportation of goods, which also affects the transportation and trade of bulk agricultural products such as coffee.
People use local sand and gravel raw materials to build roads, which is a convenient way to build roads in the vast countryside economy↓
Pictured: AusAid
Although Timor-Leste coffee is highly sought after in the international coffee market due to its organic product positioning, Timor-Leste's coffee competitiveness is not superior to other Southeast Asian countries due to the rising cost of coffee production in Timor-Leste and the lack of infrastructure.
Renowned economist David Friedman found that "nearly one-third of Timorese family coffee grows coffee, and coffee has been the country's largest non-oil export for the past 150 years." "The development of the coffee industry affects the economic income of many East Timorese families.
Coffee production is the most common landscape in rural Timor-Leste, pictured is dried coffee beans in shells↓
Pictured: Erinamukuta
Therefore, revitalizing the coffee industry is not only the national will of Timor-Leste, but also the choice of many people. Timor-Leste is actively formulating countermeasures and seeking assistance and industrial cooperation from the international community to deal with the real predicament of the coffee industry.
In 2018, the Suai Expressway, the first expressway in Timor-Leste undertaken by China Railway International China Overseas-China Railway First Bureau East Timor Joint Venture Company, was completed and opened to traffic, opening a new era of East Timor Expressway. Located on the southern coast of Timor-Leste, the Suai Expressway runs from Suai in the south to Biko in the north, which can effectively promote coffee transportation and export trade in the southern region.
The Suai Expressway, part of the Tasimane Oil Infrastructure Corridor, is designed for 100 km/h and compresses the journey between the two places to two hours↓
Timor-Leste has applied for agricultural loans from international institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, as well as grants from relevant international institutions. In December 2016, the Asian Development Bank approved a US$225,000 grant to finance coffee farming in Timor-Leste. These funds have provided strong support for the development of the coffee industry in Timor-Leste, promoted the construction of coffee production facilities, and further promoted the development of agricultural technical training, enhancing the competitiveness of the coffee industry in Timor-Leste.
The fragrant aroma of coffee has also attracted more foreign enterprises to cooperate. In recent years, with the fame of East Timorese coffee, many international coffee retail giants have also rushed to the beach. Starbucks listed Timor-Leste as one of 28 coffee source countries and encouraged coffee distributors to source coffee from Timor-Leste.
图：Hans Vivek rickyzden
Starbucks initially sourced coffee from Mount Ramilo, East Timor, as part of its "Extraordinary New Single Origin Coffee" range.
At 2,963 meters above sea level, Mount Ramilo is the highest mountain on the island of Timor and has a rich and fertile natural ecology. In the local indigenous language, it is known as the Mountain of Distant Ancestors, and now the thriving coffee industry here is providing shelter and security.
Mount Ramilo in East Timor is a towering mountain with coffee plantations in the mountain valley ↓
图：Colin Trainor
Across Timor-Leste, about 22,000 farmers supply Starbucks, and these farmers will generate more economic income from coffee sales, thereby improving the backwardness of rural areas. For Timor-Leste, Starbucks' global brand influence will effectively enhance the reputation of Timorese coffee and open up the global market.
The suffering of Timor-Leste has gone through twists and turns, and now in the land once war-torn land, verdant coffee trees thrive. Despite its many difficulties and problems, Timor-Leste has embarked on a new phase in the development of the coffee industry and is connected to the wider world through coffee.