Plum · Caramel · Cola · Jammy
Variety: Hibredo de Timor
Process: Washed
Region: Lequidoe, Aileu
Expression: Sweet
Exporter/Importer: Orijem de Timor
This is a genuinely exciting milestone for Blume, and for me personally.
After years of searching for high-quality coffee from Timor-Leste, our closest neighbour and trading partner, we finally found some. And not just any lot, this one won the washed category at this year's Best of Timor competition.
I was fortunate enough to be on the judging panel this year and had flagged this as one of two coffees I'd want to buy once the process was over. All I had to go on was a numerical lot number, so I reached out to Daniel at the Asosiasaun Café Timor to enquire. Not only was the lot still available, it had been the winner. We bought all 35kg of it.
Produced by the Machedo Brothers and the smallholder farmers of the Manucassa Suco in Aileu, central highlands. Suco means village in Tetum, and with farming being small-scale, the community forms a co-op to process and sell their coffees together, with support from the Quinta Portugal Project. Coffee farming in this region dates back to the 19th century and is deeply woven into the culture and economy of the highlands.
The variety is Hibredo de Timor - a spontaneous cross between Arabica and Robusta that occurred here in the early 20th century, a textbook genetic impossibility. The farmers of Manucassa grow their trees in the shade of indigenous canopy, completely organically, using only debris from the agroforest as compost and fertiliser. It's hard to imagine a coffee that speaks more completely of place.
In the cup: exceptionally sweet, balanced and jammy — stone fruit and plum up front, with a lingering caramel and cola finish. We love this coffee.
Plum · Caramel · Cola · Jammy
Variety: Hibredo de Timor
Process: Washed
Region: Lequidoe, Aileu
Expression: Sweet
Exporter/Importer: Orijem de Timor
This is a genuinely exciting milestone for Blume, and for me personally.
After years of searching for high-quality coffee from Timor-Leste, our closest neighbour and trading partner, we finally found some. And not just any lot, this one won the washed category at this year's Best of Timor competition.
I was fortunate enough to be on the judging panel this year and had flagged this as one of two coffees I'd want to buy once the process was over. All I had to go on was a numerical lot number, so I reached out to Daniel at the Asosiasaun Café Timor to enquire. Not only was the lot still available, it had been the winner. We bought all 35kg of it.
Produced by the Machedo Brothers and the smallholder farmers of the Manucassa Suco in Aileu, central highlands. Suco means village in Tetum, and with farming being small-scale, the community forms a co-op to process and sell their coffees together, with support from the Quinta Portugal Project. Coffee farming in this region dates back to the 19th century and is deeply woven into the culture and economy of the highlands.
The variety is Hibredo de Timor - a spontaneous cross between Arabica and Robusta that occurred here in the early 20th century, a textbook genetic impossibility. The farmers of Manucassa grow their trees in the shade of indigenous canopy, completely organically, using only debris from the agroforest as compost and fertiliser. It's hard to imagine a coffee that speaks more completely of place.
In the cup: exceptionally sweet, balanced and jammy — stone fruit and plum up front, with a lingering caramel and cola finish. We love this coffee.
