TIMOR LESTE Cristo Liurai

TIMOR LESTE Cristo Liurai

Processing method Washed

Varietal Typica

Species Arabica

SCORE: 86.0

Description

This coffee from the Cristo Liurai group is purchased direct from our partner farmers based on a parchment buying model, meaning that each of the members process their own coffee individually at their own homes.

Once the ripe red cherries have been harvested, the farmer will then float them to remove any defects, following which they will then be pulped using a manual pulping machine. The beans will then be placed into a large bucket and submerged in water and left to ferment for between 40-44 hours, until the mucilage has broken down and feels scratchy to touch. At this point, the parchment is ready to be washed, a very labour intensive task.

The parchment will need to be washed an average of 8-10 times and once complete, is then then laid out on raised drying beds to dry underneath the warm Timorese sunshine. The parchment is constantly turned to ensure consistent drying and further sorting is carried out to remove any further defects.

Drying normally takes between 7-10 days, for the 2023 harvest it was closer to 10 days to reach optimal moisture content measurements of 10% and water activity levels of 0.55aW.

At this point, the parchment is then stored in 20kg sacks and stored in our warehouse and left to rest for a period of 6-8 weeks. During this time continuous QC checks are carried out to ensure that an equilibrium between moisture content and water activity is reached, at which point the parchment is ready to be taken to be dry hulled.

Once hulled, the green beans are then graded by screen size and hand sorted to remove any further final defects.

Flavours

Citrus

Pear

Jasmine

Producer Information

Cristo Liurai is located in the western part of Letefoho, with all the members being based around the southern perimeter of the mountain protected by the watchful gaze of the Cristo Liurai statue. Led by Luis Santos de Jesus (a school teacher by day), each of these 15 smallholder farmers have a great respect for their coffee and the land on which it is grown. Harvesting coffee from this area is not easy due to the steep terrain and dense forests, and members need to make the daily hike up the mountain to harvest their cherries, and at the end of the day will then carry their harvest back down the mountain, often balancing sacks of up to 30kg on their shoulders.

This is a very organised group, due to Luis’s oversight, who has worked tirelessly to encourage strict record keeping within the community of drying times and changes in moisture content, and for good reason. This last few years has seen increased early afternoon cloud coverage settling around the southern part of the Cristo Liurai mountain, which has meant an increased need for vigilance with drying and our continued support in providing portable drying racks to all of the group’s members. Because of this, drying times with this group are slightly longer, however good things come to those who wait – consistently producing fully washed coffee which is deliciously clean, sweet and well balanced.

2023 has also seen Karst build their first seedling nursery in Eratoi, where together with Simao their field manager, Karst will be looking to cultivate new coffee and shade tree seedlings. For every 10kg of green beans that are sold, Karst will commit to planting one new coffee or shade tree seedling, which will be distributed to their partner farmers (including members from Cristo Liurai) for planting at a later date, so a big thank you for helping them to achieve this goal.

Harvest Date

July – August 2023

Environment

Altitude

1500 – 1600 m.a.s.l