Timor

The Coopertiva Cafe Timor

The Cooperativa Cafe Timor works with very small farms in East Timor, most are less than a hectare of land (2.471 acres) in Maubesse, an area of high altitude.

The coffee from East Timor was originally planted over 400 years ago by Portuguese colonists. An epidemic of coffee leaf rust first discovered in the late 1800's wiped out most of the Arabica plants. In the early 1900's the Dutch brought Robusta plants to Indonesia and with this replanting amongst the few remaining Arabica plants, came nature's spontaneous creation of a new varietal - Hibrido de Timor. Hibrido de Timor was discovered in 1927 in a plantation of typica coffee (a variety of arabica) that had been established in 1917, in what is now East Timor. Coffee farmers in Timor began cultivating Hibrido de Timor in the 1940s. The people of Timor continue to celebrate an emotional connection with this first tree discovered almost 100 years ago!

This new varietal has changed the world of coffee allowing all of the positive attributes of Arabica coffee to exist within the same plants as the leaf rust resistent Robusta. Forms of Hibrido de Timor exist within varietals all over the world.