Coffee Bean Varieties — Introduction to Catuai Green Beans

Catuai green beans are relatively soft, with a sweet taste and minimal acidity or astringency. It seems everything about them scores only about 65 points. It is a variety Brazil has been strongly promoting, yet it has not achieved much significant success so far.

Catuai is also a hybrid Arabica variety, a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. It resists natural disasters better, particularly wind and rain. It inherits Caturra's short plant height, addressing a shortcoming of Mundo Novo. Another advantage is that its fruit sets firmly and does not easily fall off in strong wind, compensating for the delicacy of Arabica fruit. Its overall flavor profile, though, is more monotonous than either Caturra or Mundo Novo, lacking richness and body — its greatest regret. Its fruit growth and harvesting lifespan is also only about ten years, making its short life another weakness.

Catuai also comes in red-fruited and yellow-fruited types (Catuai Amerelo and Catuai Vermelho). The fruit can be either red or yellow, but to date no significant taste advantage has been found in the yellow over the red. In fact, some cupping tests have found that although coffee from some yellow fruit has good acidity, its cleanliness is inferior to red fruit. Statistically, red Catuai wins awards more often.

Because Caturra produces high yields and resists pests and disease but has poor flavor, Catuai was developed from Caturra to improve that weakness. It seems, however, to be too balanced.

"Panama Geisha Honey Process" and "Brazil Cerrado Nazareth Farm (U.T.Z)" are both Catuai varieties.

FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Geisha Honey Process has rich aromas, with noticeable fruit notes and a subtle maple syrup fragrance. The entry is brightly acidic with a cool aftertaste and a prolonged mouth-watering effect, leaving an unforgettable impression.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado Nazareth Farm coffee is simple and smooth to drink, with nutty almond flavors and a sweet aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To see what a Catuai can do at the top of the market, it helps to know the Gesha family as a contrast. FrontStreet's Panama Boquete Gesha is an approachable entry into the variety, with the classic Panama orange-blossom honey sweetness, an oolong-tea body and fine fruit acidity, while the higher-tier Esmeralda Red Label — grown at 1,600-1,800 meters, where every lot must cup above 90 points and comes from a single plot — shows what careful selection can achieve.

If you would rather start at the everyday end, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy is a friendly, sweet choice: a Gesha blend of a Costa Rica honey-process coffee and a Panama washed Gesha, with rose, citrus and dried-blueberry aromas that turn to strawberry soft candy when milk is added. It suits pour-over, a moka pot, an espresso machine, and cold brew alike.

For the classic Panamanian honey character the article mentions, a honey-process Gesha is also a good way to taste how much processing can add to the cup — the same variety can show a subtle maple-syrup fragrance, bright acidity and a cool, mouth-watering finish.