The Coffee Festival of Timor-Leste (East Timor), which aims to select the best coffee and the best cocktail made with this product, will run until December 3, as part of an event open to farmers and groups of associated farmers.
The festival was organized by the Timor-Leste Coffee Association (ACTL) and will include the country’s first coffee tasting competition, with professional judges from Australia, Canada, Mexico, Thailand and the United States, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported.
“It’s the first time that East Timor will have a festival of this kind,” said Evangelino Monteiro, spokesman for the ACTL, who added: “East Timor produces high-quality coffee and we want to celebrate it and to inspire people to do even better in future.”
In addition to various activities for coffee lovers in Dili, with dining venues also joining in with the event, the festival includes support programs to improve coffee quality for farmers in Ainaro, Aileu, Ermera and Liquica.
The ACTL is a voluntary association that works “to increase the volume and improve the value of coffee sold for export and domestic consumption” through the revitalization of the coffee sector and by contributing to the development of the international brand of Timorese coffee and the training of farmers.
Despite having reduced production – East Timor annually exports coffee worth about USD20 million – Timorese coffee production has experienced resurgence in recent years.
