With the right knowledge, let's give coffee producers pride and confidence.

In East Timor, the newest independent country in Southeast Asia, Zensho Fair Trade began trading in 2007 as the first producing region. Zensho works with NPOs in two regions that produce Arabica and Robusta coffee beans, providing guidance on coffee cultivation and other related services.

Furthermore, social development costs ^(*1) generated through fair trade are used to improve the lives of producers, such as by constructing water facilities and coffee storage facilities.

During this visit, with the aim of improving producers' awareness of quality, one of our employees, who holds a coffee appraiser qualification ^(*2), held a cupping ^(*3) seminar for producers gathered at the NPO's local office.

East Timor, blessed with a favorable climate and environment, produces high-quality coffee. In recent years, buyers from various countries have visited to purchase coffee. However, among them are many buyers who lack sufficient knowledge about coffee, and some who try to impose their own country's trends that are not suitable for East Timor's production environment. Producers who are swayed by the information from such buyers are increasingly saying, "We don't know what is good for our coffee production."

Against this backdrop, this seminar explained the basics of cupping to coffee producers, and then had them practice cupping various sample coffees so that they could correctly judge for themselves what kind of green beans make for a delicious coffee that is characteristic of East Timor. The participating producers listened attentively to the explanations from our company employees who served as instructors, so that they could acquire new knowledge and skills.

Through the seminar, participants not only gained fundamental knowledge about coffee bean quality control, but also seemed to have strengthened their awareness of the importance of protecting quality themselves.

Through these initiatives, Zensho aims to contribute to creating a system that allows producers to make their own decisions and manage high-quality coffee without being swayed by the opinions of buyers.

We will continue our efforts to improve production technology and stabilize production volume.