East Timor Rotutu

Situated in the western part of Letefoho, Rotutu is our import partners Karst Organic's flagship group with whom they were first introduced, back in 2017. Upon this first meeting, they recognised instantly the potential of East Timorese coffee and entered into a partnership with the community to elevate their coffee quality in order to open new opportunities in international markets, and ultimately maximise their earning potential.

After 2 years of research and at the request of the community, Karst built the Rotutu processing facility in 2019. They then implemented a cherry purchasing model whereby the purchase price has continued to increase year on year and this year (2023) saw them purchase cherry at a 33% higher price than that of the local commercial price.

Whilst we know that the highest price doesn’t always guarantee the best quality, in the case of Rotutu, this has incentivised members to take great care in selectively harvesting only the ripest red cherries for processing.

Combined with the expertise of the team employed at the facility, together they have been able to see great improvements in the quality of the coffee which Rotutu has been producing since their partnership began.

East Timor has had a long history of colonisation, domination, and struggle for independence, the shadows of which are still visible today. Coffee was first brought to the island by Portuguese occupiers, who used it as an export crop alongside the much-sought-after sandalwood. After Portugal left the island in 1975 it was immediately invaded and annexed by Indonesia, and during the bloody occupation and resistance that followed coffee cultivation was an afterthought.

Since independence in 1999 coffee production has increased and has become an important part of East Timor’s economy, today being second only to oil and gas in terms of exports. The whole country is “organic by default”, with a distinct lack of man-made fertilisers or pesticides, and potentially the only country in the world to produce exclusively organically-grown coffee.

A third of the country relies on coffee for their income, with the majority grown in the municipality of Ermera—responsible for roughly half the country’s production—and within it the sub-district of Letefoho (where our import partners Karst Organics work).

Did you know?

• Although East Timor’s coffee exports make up less than one percent of the global coffee trade, they still account for about 80 percent of the country’s overall exports.
• The majority of coffee grown in East Timor is processed using the washed method, distinguishing it from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia which favour the wet-hulled or Giling Basah method.
• The Timor hybrid, a cross between arabica and robusta coffee plants that has the disease resistance of the latter and the cup quality of the former, was discovered on East Timor in 1920. This hybrid has served as the base of many new varieties bred to combat the coffee leaf rust disease.

Our speciality coffees are 100% traceable and ethically sourced. We work direct with farmers, or through trusted partners, to bring you the best coffee from around the world.

Sourced in partnership with: Karst Organics
Producer relationship length: 4 years
Purchase price: $0.60/kg cherry, $3.25/kg parchment

Started by husband and wife team Stewart Hamilton-Deans and Kar Yee Cheung, Karst Organics spends much of the year on the ground in East Timor, working closely and building relationships with their producer partners in the mountains of Letefoho. Karst focuses on transparency and quality, as well as a drive to showcase the country’s emergent speciality coffee sector.

“We are trying to remove as many steps in the supply chain as possible,” Kar Yee explained when we spoke in 2022. “So we pay each individual farmer at the farm gate—when we pick up the coffee, we pay straight away—then from there we go through all the processing, and we pay for the shipment to the UK, and we import it ourselves.”

The other distinguishing feature of East Timor is that the whole country is “organic by default”, with a distinct lack of man-made fertilisers or pesticides, and potentially the only country in the world to produce exclusively organically-grown coffee.

“Everybody, certainly in Letefoho, is so connected to the land,” Stewart says. “They all work the land every day, the land provides for their food. And one day there will be a point where pesticides will be introduced, but I think there’ll be a backlash from many farmers just because of the way they value the land and respect it.”

It’s a connection that Karst Organics aims to cultivate, to develop years-long relationships with the skilled producers who grow the coffee they export.