What Does Caturra Coffee Taste Like? What Coffee Varieties Are There? What Are the Characteristics of Caturra Coffee?

Bourbon Coffee Varieties

The Bourbon variety of arabica coffee is one of the varieties closest to the original species, discovered on Reunion Island (formerly named Bourbon) next to Madagascar. Bourbon has its own distinctive character, similar to Typica in quality, with wine-like acidity and a sweet aftertaste. Iron-skinned (Typica) and Bourbon can be told apart by their leaves and the appearance of their beans: Bourbon leaves are broader, its cherries smaller but more compact, so the beans are relatively smaller and rounder than Typica's.

Caturra Coffee

Caturra is a single-gene mutation of Bourbon discovered in Brazil in the 1950s. Both its yield capacity and disease resistance are better than Bourbon's, and the plants are shorter, making harvesting convenient. Unfortunately, it shares Bourbon's flaw — fruiting one year and resting the next. Its flavor is comparable to Bourbon beans.

What sets it apart is stronger adaptability. It can be planted at high density without shade trees and thrives even in direct, bright sunlight — hence its other name, "Sun Coffee."

Caturra suits altitudes from as low as 700 meters up to 1,700 meters, but the higher it grows, the better the flavor — and the lower the yield.

Taking FrontStreet Coffee's "Flower Butterfly" as an example, it contains both Caturra and Caturra's variant Catuai, offering a richer mouthfeel with some nutty flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

V60/90°C/1:15/Time 2'20"

Flavor: The dry aroma carries a light jasmine floral scent, with soft citrus acidity on entry, honey-like sweetness, black tea notes, and some nutty flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil grows an enormous range of coffees. Brazilian beans carry moderate acidity, and the balance of sweetness, bitterness, and body is excellent — which makes them a perfect fit for medium roasting, where nutty aromas bloom, the cup turns mellow and fragrant with a faint acidity, and the beans work equally well as single origin or in blends.

FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon: if you simply want a taste of the Brazilian profile, buy FrontStreet's pulped natural Cerrado — a thoroughly classic Brazilian single origin. Cerrado is a renowned local growing region known for high-quality beans, and this FrontStreet Brazil is the Red Bourbon variety common across South America. Medium roasted, it shows rich cream peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a rounded mouthfeel — not sour, with only a light bitter touch — and it works for pour-over as well as moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, and French press. FrontStreet Brazil Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon: another FrontStreet Brazilian single origin, Fazenda Rainha comes from Mogiana, near southern Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil feeds the cherries nutrients that develop into full aromas. Part of the local farms stick to traditional operations while the rest have adopted modern standardized management, and local coffee quality has improved greatly as a result. Fazenda Rainha's variety is the rare Yellow Bourbon, a mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character; brewed by pour-over, moka pot, or home espresso machine, FrontStreet Brazil Fazenda Rainha shows a sugarcane sweetness found in no other origin, alongside fruit and chocolate notes. FrontStreet Espresso Blend Series: low acidity, balanced flavor, and approachable prices have made Brazilian coffee the first choice for many espresso formulas. The crema-rich FrontStreet Classic Blend, the nutty FrontStreet Premium Blend, the balanced FrontStreet Dark Cocoa Blend favored by countless baristas, and the FrontStreet Commercial Blend designed specifically for opening a coffee shop all contain Brazilian components — adding chocolate and cream aromas plus soft sweet-sour-bitter balance, with steady, extraction-friendly tonality.