Is Timor Coffee a Spontaneous Hybrid Variety? Is All Timor Coffee Uncertified Organic Coffee?

Timor is a small island located in the southern part of the Southeast Asian maritime region. Its uniqueness lies in its division between East Timor, a sovereign state in the east, and Indonesia in the west.

The Australian continent is less than 500 kilometers from Timor, separated by the Timor Sea. In eastern East Timor, the coffee industry is flourishing. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will explore who produces Timor coffee and how it is produced.

The History of Timor Coffee

Like many other islands, Timor was incorporated into the trade routes of Chinese and Japanese ships in the 14th century for the export of slaves, sandalwood, wax, and honey.

For many years, it has been a politically divided country. Since the mid-17th century, the Dutch have claimed West Timor. East Timor was a Portuguese colony until 1975. The island was divided by treaty in 1859.

The Portuguese introduced coffee production and cultivation to the island in the early 19th century, and since then, the country has experienced rapid development. Besides remaining the only cash crop in Timor, East Timor's specialty coffee now accounts for approximately 80% of the country's annual exports - this is not a small figure.

Focused Development

Most people living on the island heavily rely on income from the agricultural sector. In 2003, it was estimated that about 200,000 people relied on coffee production and cultivation as their main source of income, and this number continues to grow.

For this reason, the East Timor coffee industry had to improve production quality, cooperate with fair trade, and use funds provided by overseas grants.

The National Plan for Coffee Industry Development 2019-2023 (PNDSC) launched this time ensures that a larger portion of the coffee produced on the island is of better quality. This means that roasted coffee from this region will be sold worldwide at higher prices.

Growing Regions and Challenging Conditions

There are six main coffee-growing regions on the island: Maubisse, Ermera, Liquiçá, Aileu, and Manufahi.

The typical harvest period in these regions is between May and October.

Unfortunately, East Timor cannot claim to have the best coffee growing conditions like some other countries.

Its climate and short rainy season each year mean that its land is too dry to grow vegetation. Many coffee-growing areas have naturally low soil fertility, which means the soil is not suitable for providing the correct nutrients for optimal coffee growth.

Coffee cultivation methods in Timor remain very basic throughout the region. Small plantations growing coffee cherries are often unmanaged, with little attention paid to pest and disease management.

Organic Coffee

But an unintentional benefit is that much of the country's coffee is (uncertified) organic coffee. Due to the non-use of pesticides, they are technically organic. These preventive chemicals have never been used on the island and will not be introduced now.

Timor Hybrid

The Timor hybrid was discovered in 1927 in a plantation that grew Typica (an Arabica coffee variety). This unique coffee is the result of a natural hybridization between Arabica and Robusta coffee.

What makes Hibrido de Timor unique is that it extracts the best qualities from each of its parent varieties and combines them together.

Arabica is known worldwide for its delicious taste and is the source of many specialty coffees, accounting for over 60% of global coffee production, but unfortunately, it is also very susceptible to diseases like coffee leaf rust.

On the other hand, while Robusta coffee beans may not be as high quality as Arabica beans, it can boast resistance to many diseases. Therefore, as a resource-rich plant, Hibrido de Timor has quality closer to Arabica coffee but can also boast its resistance to numerous coffee diseases.

Unfortunately, research on this unique coffee is still insufficient. Due to climate change, the demand from producers and farmers for disease-resistant plants is high—the genetic resources of this hybrid could be the answer to bypassing these destructive diseases in the future.

The Future of East Timor Coffee

Coffee from this region remains the world's largest single-source organic coffee producer, although their coffee production accounts for less than 0.2% of the global coffee trade.

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