Timor Leste (East Timor)
Pending origin trip to the world’ newest nation.
Timor Leste is a nation coming to terms with its independence since 2002.
With 500 years of colonialism under the Portuguese and then 24 turbulent years of occupation under the Indonesians its was left in a a poor state with. Much of its infrastructure in ruins.
I met Peter Dougan over a year ago. Pete’s an Aussie trying to make a difference in Timorese Leste in sustainable value added agriculture in what is essentially a subsistence economy. There’s 49000 hectares of Timorese coffee literally dropping to the ground providing no income to its small lots farmers to have generally resorted to other crops.
Pete’s efforts are nothing short of epic in changing this position and in the process.
To create a value add in a nation where even the basics of electricity and communications we take for granted is no easy task.
Where does Bills Beans fit in?
This coming Sunday I fly into Timor Leste to work with Pete and look at the extraordinary efforts he’s putting into coffee and agriculture in Timor Leste. Timorese coffee is considered the grandfather of all coffees and when processed correctly its hard to find better.
We are talking to farmers to tell the what we want as specialty coffee roasters, looking at improvements in processing and establishing a brand for Pete to value add. It’s the beginning of epic work and to assist those who need it most.
So armed with some industrial strength rat killer, (there’s a rat problem), 30 used grainpro coffee bags, a jar of Vegemite and a shit load of Tim Tams it’s off to Timor Leste I go.
