Ethiopia Bourbon Natural Variety [Caturra] Bourbon Variety Caturra Coffee Bean Price

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Which Bourbon Varieties Matter, and Is Caturra Expensive?

Caturra is a natural mutation of the Arabica Bourbon family, first discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and more compact than Bourbon.

If you read much about coffee, you have probably run into names like Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, and Typica. All of these are simply different varieties within Arabica. For newcomers the list can feel confusing, and there is no shame in that—confusion is what pushes us to learn. Thanks to the wealth of material available online, we can start untangling these names one at a time.

Because Caturra descends from Bourbon, its disease resistance is relatively weak, though its yield is higher than Bourbon's. Even though it was discovered in Brazil, Caturra did not grow especially well there and was never planted on a large scale. Instead it found a home across Central and South America, where Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua cultivate it extensively.

Taste and Characteristics

Botanical details aside, most drinkers care more about flavor. The higher the altitude at which Caturra is grown, the better its quality—but the lower the corresponding yield. Light-roasted Caturra shows prominent acidic aromas and overall brightness, and with careful processing its sweetness can be outstanding. Compared with Bourbon, however, its body is lighter and its finish is somewhat less clean.

Caturra usually produces red cherries, but in a few rare regions yellow Caturra exists as well. Hawaii, for example, grows extremely small quantities of yellow Caturra.

Bourbon Bean Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's natural Brazilian Yellow Bourbon is a strong option on both brand and quality, and the value is excellent: a half-pound (227g) package costs only around 85 yuan. At 15g per cup, that works out to about 15 cups per package and less than 6 yuan per cup. Compared with cafe prices that often run to tens of yuan a cup, that is a genuinely honest recommendation.

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Bourbon in its many forms is the thread running through this article, and two FrontStreet Brazilian beans put those classic Bourbon characteristics in the cup.

FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a textbook Brazilian single origin from Cerrado, a well-known region prized for high-quality beans. A pulped-natural Red Bourbon, it is medium-roasted into rich aromas of cream, peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut, with a round, non-acidic body and a light bitterness. It works just as well as pour-over as it does in a moka pot, as an espresso SOE, in a siphon, or in a French press.

FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon comes from Mogiana, near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil feeds the fruit and builds a full aroma. Its rare Yellow Bourbon—a genetic mutation of Red Bourbon—brings a cleaner fruit character. Whether brewed as pour-over, in a moka pot, or on a home espresso machine, it delivers a sugarcane sweetness you will not find in other regions, alongside fruit and chocolate notes.