Hey all. If you've been buying our Indonesian offering over the years, you know it's usually a Sumatra. Sometimes a Java. Both classics, both fill the big earthy Indonesian coffee spot in our lineup. This year it's neither. It's a Timor. Technically it's not even Indonesian.
Quick on the Sumatra situation. In late November of last year, Cyclone Senyar parked itself over Sumatra and didn't move. The heart of Indonesian Arabica country took a direct hit right at the start of the December harvest. The chairman of the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters told reporters the flooding could cut the country's coffee exports by as much as 15 percent for the season, and reports from the ground suggested roughly a third of northern Sumatra's Arabica farms were affected. A lot of that crop is just gone, and the Sumatra I'd usually source wasn't available.
I'm not excited about the circumstances that pushed me off Sumatra. But I am excited to be putting this Timor on the shelf.
The tariff situation over the last year has made it genuinely hard to bring in new and different coffees. Margins on specialty are thin to begin with, and when the cost of a green coffee contract swings on a policy announcement, you stop taking chances on unfamiliar origins. I have to stick to what I know sells. So a lot of roasters, including bigger ones than us, have quietly narrowed their lineups. Fewer single origins. Fewer experiments. More of the same coffees you've already had.
So when I find something like this Timor, an origin I've never offered, a cup that's actually different, and I can land it at a price that lets me sell it for a price that's fair to you, that feels like a small win in a year that hasn't had a lot of them.
About the cooperative
It comes from a co-op called Cooperativa Cafe Timor, or CCT. They're based in East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, which is its own country, not part of Indonesia, even though it sits at the eastern edge of the Indonesian archipelago. The beans aren't aware of what flag they're flying under, however. East Timor only gained independence in 2002, and CCT was founded in 1994 to help small coffee farmers organize and access global markets. It's 100% organic and Fairtrade certified, and it's the largest private employer in the country.
CCT also runs a network of health clinics for its members and their communities. They provide free care, including mobile clinics that reach remote mountain villages.
The bean itself
The beans we're serving are grown between 750 and 1,500 meters of elevation, hand-picked and washed at CCT's own washing stations. The varietal is something called Hybrido de Timor, and there's a great bit of coffee history behind it. The Portuguese planted Arabica on Timor over 400 years ago, but leaf rust eventually wiped most of it out. What grew back, naturally, was a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta that turned out to be both rust-resistant and delicious. It's literally named after the place. You won't find it anywhere else as a heritage varietal. It's clean, though. It's much more Arabica than Robusta. I couldn't tell this when I was cupping it.
How it actually tastes
Now the part that matters when you actually pour a cup.
The first thing you notice is the lack of acidity. There's almost none. Without that acid bite up front, the coffee just opens up across your palate, earthy and cocoa-forward, full bodied. It's a strong coffee in the sense that it is rich and has a mouthfeel and lets you know it's there, but it's smooth. None of the sharp edges.
And there's a spice note that I don't quite know how to describe. It's aromatic in the cup before you even taste it, and it lingers after. I don't want to call it cinnamon because that's not really it. It's a different earthy spice, more like something out of a pantry than a baking shelf.
For our regular Sumatra drinkers, this is going to feel familial. The big body is there. The earthy backbone is there. The chocolate is there. What's different is how clean it drinks. If you take milk in your coffee, this one stands up beautifully. If you drink it black, you'll get the full picture.
Like the Venezuelan we put out last month, this isn't a coffee I can promise will be back. The supply situation in Indonesia is going to be unsettled for a while as Sumatra recovers, and Timor is a small origin to begin with. When this lot is gone, the next one is anybody's guess.
We've got it on the shelf at all of our CR Coffee Shop locations.