2025 was the fourth consecutive year that Karst has worked with the small community of Samoro, located in the south-eastern part of Letefoho, under the watchful eye of Timor-Leste’s most sacred mountain, Mount Ramelau. Led by Orlando Soares, this tight-knit group of 11 farmers proudly process their fully-washed coffee in their individual households using the same traditional methods that their ancestors would have done generations before them.

The Samoro group is a great example of how high-quality, speciality coffee can significantly increase household income and during the last 4-years, we are delighted at how this partnership has developed. As the quality and reputation of this delicious fully-washed coffee has increased, so has our purchase price and as farmers have become more confident with their processing so too have the volumes increased that we are buying.

To put this into perspective, in 2022, Karst purchased 1,678 kilos of parchment from the Samoro members at a price of $3.00 per kilo with a total value of $5,035. In comparison, in 2025, Karst purchased a total of 4,956 kilos of parchment at a price of $4.00 per kilo which meant a total of $19,825 was paid directly into the community. It goes without saying that this increase in volume would not have been possible without the trust and confidence of our partner roasters in the UK, many of whom pre-ordered their coffee prior to the harvest, so a huge thank you to you especially!

2025 was a bountiful harvest for the farmers of Letefoho, including the members of Samoro. This was most certainly down to the favourable weather conditions that Mother Nature provided however, credit also needs to be given to those handful of farmers who were brave enough to participate in the government coffee tree rehabilitation and maintenance programme which launched in 2022. 4-years on and this government initiative has yielded results so hopefully this will encourage more members of the community to stump and regenerate to ensure that healthy yields such as 2025 are a regular occurrence and not just an anomaly. The continued encouragement for members to gradually commence rehabilitation of their coffee forests will be a key priority for Karst in 2026.