Timor Leste Coffee - Hatuhei Cooperative
Our speciality Timor Leste coffee is a smooth Arabica coffee with a low acidity and a pleasing finish. It has sweet notes and aromas of treacle and soft fruits. From the Letefoho region of East Timor this coffee is grown by the 32 farmers who make up the Hatuhei Cooperative at an altitude of 1500 to 1600 MASL. It is a fully washed and sun-dried coffee from the varietals, Typica and Timor Hybrid.
Our new 2024 crop was given a cupping score of 86 making this an 'excellent specialty coffee'.
Well suited to immersion style brewing of either Dripper, Aeropress, Cafetiere but will also give a good espresso.
Flavour notes: sweet notes and aromas of treacle and soft fruits
Cupping notes: a smooth coffee with a low acidity and a pleasing finish
Location: Letefoho, East Timor
Altitude: 1500 to 1600 MASL
Process: fully washed and sun dried
Varietals: Typica and Timor Hybrid
As a UK stockist of Timor Leste coffee, we only buy our Timor Leste coffee from Kar Yee and Stuart at Karst Organics - a UK company dedicated to directly exporting and importing specialty Arabica coffee beans from Timor-Leste, with a strong focus on supporting local farmers. Their mission is to foster relationships between coffee farmers in Timor-Leste and speciality roasters, minimising the distance in the supply chain. They prioritise direct connections and sustainability throughout their operations, and spend six months of the year in Timor Leste working closely with all their farmers.
Why is Timor Leste coffee not certified organic?
"Timor-Leste only uses organic farming practices. Due to Timor-Leste’s complicated history and lack of development, the Ministry of Agriculture has yet to introduce chemical pesticides into farming practices therefore making all agricultural practices organic by default. Whilst we support the idea of organic certification of those origins where chemical fertilisers are also used, we have prioritised on the investment and support to all our partner farmers through providing processing materials to elevate the quality of the coffee which they are producing. Organic certification comes at a substantial cost and as a small company which is fully self-funded, our priority is to work on building strong relationships with all our partner farmers, and fulfilling our commitment to them to continue to pay a high price for the coffee which they are producing."
"The Timorese culture also follows animism, a belief system that respects Mother Nature and believes that there is connectivity in all living beings. All of our partner farmers grow other food crops alongside their coffee which are mainly used as daily food staples so the importance of only using organic fertilisers to show respect to Mother Nature and nourish the land is of the utmost importance to the farming communities where we work. This organic fertiliser tends to be made up of the cleared weeds and leaves from pruning and maintaining their coffee trees, chicken manure and the remaining cherry skin after pulping. All this is mixed together and combined to create a mulch which is then placed around the base of the coffee trees to provide the necessary nutrition following the coffee harvest." Kar Yee, Karst Organics
Sustainability: All of our coffee beans are traceable directly to the farm and the farmer. Our coffees are either Fairtrade Organic (FTO) or Rain Forest Alliance (RFA) certified, or grown as a collective or cooperative to assure a fair wage, investment in the community and good environmental practice. Our coffee bags are recyclable.
Why buy from us? Our award-winning, ethically sourced coffee is freshly hand roasted to order every week. Our aim is to retain the main characteristics of single origin Arabica beans and to enhance them with delicate roasting. All of our medium roast single origin Arabica coffee is suitable for espresso. Just choose Fine Grind or Whole Bean depending on your coffee machine or brewing method.
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