Buy Timor Leste coffee - $7.50 per 250gm pkt.

Friends of Baucau Timorese Coffee is sold to raise funds for Friends of Baucau projects, 50% of the sale of each packet goes to Friends of Baucau. Timor Leste beans are roasted, ground and packaged by Coffee Mio for the Friends of Baucau. The beans are the Arabica variety, which are organically grown in Timor Leste (all coffee in Timor-Leste is grown using organic methods, and is managed through cooperative village farming methods).

Coffee Outlets

  • Preston Library 266 Gower St, Preston
  • Preston Customer Service Centre 274 Gower Street, Preston
  • Northcote Library Customer Service Centre 32-38 Separation St, Northcote
  • Reservoir Civic Centre 23 Edward St, Reservoir
  • Richmond Town Hall 333 Bridge Rd, Richmond
  • Northland Customer Service Centre between the RACV & the Commonwealth Bank
  • Collingwood Town Hall 140 Hoddle St, Abbotsford

Coffee production in Timor Leste

Coffee has been grown in Timor-Leste since colonial times under the Portuguese. By 1865 coffee accounted for over 50% of the value of exports from the colony. Under Indonesian rule, Timor-Leste coffee growers were forced to sell their produce through a company owned by the military at lowers than standard world prices. Indonesian militias destroyed much of Timor Leste’s coffee industry after the 1999 referendum, but it is quickly rebuilding with international assistance.

Although Timor-Leste produces less than 1% of the world’s coffee production, coffee is currently the country’s major export commodity and provides a substantial income for nearly a quarter of the it’s population.

Most coffee grown in Timor-Leste (about 80%) is the high-quality arabica variety and has the added advantage of being grown organically. Some of the crop is processed using “wet-milling” or washing, by which the beans are separated from the fruit of pulp within 24 hours of being picked. The beans are then soaked in water to remove the mucous membrane layer before they are sun-dried. This process adds substantially to the value of the coffee.

The traditional and more common method is to sun-dry the cherries after they are harvested then remove the pulp and sell the beans for further processing in another country.

After initial “wet milling” or dry processing the majority of the crop is sent to Indonesia for further processing. Between 85-90% of Timor-Leste crop is exported.

Depending on how it is processed, growers may receive from US$1 per 0.10kg to US$1 per 0.70kg. A recent World Bank estimate gave the annual cash income for an average coffee-producing family of six people as US$200 of which 90% comes from coffee.