90	Atomic Cafe Coffee Roasters Beverly, Massachusetts Timor Maubesse Fair-Trade Roast: Medium Review Date: April 2007 Origin: East Timor. Price: NA

Blind Assessment: Almost sugary sweet throughout the profile. Flowers and cedar in the aroma; the floral notes give way to a more pungent, tomatoey fruit and hints of cocoa in the cup. The sweetness carries straight into a rich short finish, fading to a mild astringency in the long.

Notes: Certified Fair Trade, meaning this coffee was purchased from small-holding farmers at a "fair" or economically sustainable price. East Timor is a small country sharing the island of Timor with Indonesia. Mainly Catholic and Portuguese-speaking East Timor was much in the news a few years ago when it finally achieved independence from Indonesia after a complex, bloody struggle that began with its forcible annexation by its giant neighbor. Timor's coffee industry is only now staging a persuasive recovery from the ravages of that struggle. It is dominated by small-holding peasant farmers, and produces a cup that is an interesting, often refined variant on the sweet, earthy/pungent style of small-producer coffees elsewhere in the region. Maubesse is a grade of Timor coffee based on region and growing altitude - Maubesse is higher grown than Aifu. Atomic Cafe is a coffee house on the North Shore of Massachusetts that began its in-house roasting program in 2005. Visit www.atomicafe.com or call 978-922-0042 for more information.

Who Should Drink It: Those who enjoy a low-acid, naturally sweet cup that can handle milk.

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