TAU-REMA

2025 was the fifth consecutive year that we have worked with the community of Tau-Rema which at close to 2,000masl is our highest altitude group. Situated in the remote north-westerly region of Letefoho, this group continues to be led by maun Domingos de Jesus Lima and is made up of 12 smallholder farmers all of whom process their coffee in their own households using the same traditional processing methods that their ancestors used generations before them.

Tau-Rema’s reputation as an excellent quality, high-altitude, fully-washed coffee continues to grow. This is largely due to the hard work of Domingos and the member farmers, each of whom fully-understand the expectations of the international speciality market and the diligent processing required to achieve an 85-point coffee. As the quality of Tau-Rema’s parchment has steadily increased year-on-year so too has the amount of revenue being paid directly to the community through sales to Karst. To reiterate this point, in 2021, Karst purchased 610 kilos of parchment at a price of $2.90 per kilo which had a total value of $1,769. Fast forward to 2025 and Karst purchased 1,694 kilos of parchment at $4.00 per kilo which saw $6,776 paid directly into the community.

Whilst the figures demonstrate progress, more work needs to be done to ensure that average household incomes in Tau-Rema continue to steadily rise and farmers can be financially self-reliant through sales of their coffee. Realistically, this will only be achievable with a greater focus on coffee tree rehabilitation activities which, although underway already, need consistent year-on-year attention to ensure increased yields. This will be a priority for Karst to ensure that Domingos and Tau-Rema’s farmers get the technical support they need from Maun Simao (Karst’s Field Manager) and also the materials needed to rehabilitate and regenerate their coffee forests.