"We think that coffee could be a world heritage. That's because of its historical value. Coffee was being decimated all over the world" and ended up being saved by a discovery, in 1927, of a coffee plant from Timor, said Afonso Oliveira in an interview with Lusa.

At that time, coffee plantations were dying due to rust, a disease that causes leaves to fall prematurely and branches to dry out, the Portuguese discovered in the municipality of Ermera, south of Dili, "two bushes producing well", recalled Afonso Oliveira.

The collected samples were sent to Portugal and for years a study was carried out which concluded that those two bushes "were resistant to the rust disease", he explained.

The discovery of the plant, a natural hybrid between Arabica and Robusta, would lead to one of the greatest revolutions in the world's genetic improvement programs for the Arabica coffee tree.

Currently, about 99% of the varieties of Arabica coffee trees, with resistance to rust, cultivated worldwide, have the Timor Hybrid (HDT) as their resistant progenitor.

"Timor Hybrid because it is a cross between the robusta and arabica varieties, which could not be crossed. Biologically it could not happen, because the arabica has 46 chromosomes and the robusta has 23 chromosomes, but it happened naturally", explained the businessman in the sector.

In 1965, the Portuguese distributed Timor hybrid seeds worldwide.

"This is a historical heritage, which saved coffee in the world and is planted in more than 50 countries", said Afonso Oliveira, stressing that the Oeiras research center is ready to support with all the documentation that attests to that scientific and historical importance.

The ACT vice-president also said that the original bush died in 2016, but already has shoots and that the first-generation bush remains in Oeiras.

"It is unique in the world", said Afonso Oliveira, also emphasizing that in terms of landscape, if the mountains in Timor-Leste are covered with coffee, the country is contributing to alleviating climate change.

Another particularity of Timor-Leste coffee is that it is 100% organic.

"It grows in the forest, almost like a wild plant and we don't take care of it, but if we start taking care of it, the quality can go up", said the ACT vice-president, noting, however, that the quality of the coffee depends on a chain, that is, from the way it is harvested to the way it is then removed in the machine to be served.

Timor coffee has another characteristic that also makes it special, which is the fact that it is the only one in the world that "produces in the shade of trees".

"The plants we have have to grow with shade, without that it does not grow and does not produce. Coffee in Timor-Leste only develops in the shade", he explained.

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