East Timor Peaberry

This is the second coffee we have brought you from East Timor. The first (August 2021) was not a Peaberry, but was a smash hit, nonetheless. This is also the second Peaberry we have brought you. The first was from Tanzania (September 2022), and many of you considered it a favorite. Peaberries are rare (only about 10-15% of the world’s coffee) and are formed when a genetic anomaly causes only one bean to form inside the coffee cherry. There are no Peaberry coffee plants, and that is part of what makes them more expensive. First, they are rare, and second, workers have to sort them out from the rest of the harvest. 

This coffee was grown at elevations between 2,600 and 5,200 feet above sea level and the beans are extraordinary. East Timor coffee is grown on small, family farms usually smaller than 2 acres. The acidity is bright and that results in a full-bodied, slightly sweet, cup. The flavors are complex, but if you work at it, you can detect syrupy caramel overtones. 

Coffee has been grown on East Timor for about 400 years, in the beginning by Portuguese colonists. However, an infestation of leaf rust wiped out a harvest and the Portuguese stopped growing coffee. The East Timor natives kept working on it through and in the early 1900’s the Hibrido de Timor varietal was grown successfully.