Caturra Coffee Bean Variety Introduction - Caturra Coffee Flavor Profile and Price

FrontStreet Coffee believes that friends who are specifically looking for articles about the Caturra coffee variety should already have a general understanding of coffee bean varieties. Most coffee consumers can encounter coffee varieties of the medium-seed species (Robusta is a mutant variety of the medium-seed species), as well as the Arabica species we often mention. Among these, the two most ancient varieties of Arabica are Typica and Bourbon. From the Bourbon lineage, a coffee variety with huge advantages has been derived—that is the Caturra variety that FrontStreet Coffee will introduce in this article.

History

FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier that Caturra is a variant of the Bourbon lineage, but how did Bourbon come about? In early times, Typica from Ethiopia was transplanted to Yemen, where mutations occurred without modern scientific intervention, and the bean shape changed from slender and pointed to rounded. In 1715, France, under the rule of the Bourbon dynasty, transplanted the rounded beans from Yemen Mocha to Bourbon Island on the east coast of Africa (renamed Reunion Island after the French Revolution) and named it Bourbon. Later, in 1860, Brazil introduced Bourbon from Bourbon Island to replace the lower-yielding Typica. This was Bourbon's first entry into Central and South America, and it spread throughout the lands of Central and South America.

FrontStreet Coffee found through research that between 1915 and 1918, in a plantation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, coffee growers accidentally discovered the Caturra variety. Later it was found that a group of genes in the plantation's Bourbon had mutated, causing the coffee plants to become shorter. Locals named this new variety "Caturra" in Guarani language, referring to its special biological characteristic of being small, meaning "little." Sometimes it is also called "Nanico."

Starting from 1937, the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) in São Paulo State, Brazil, began selecting Caturra and conducting mass selection. FrontStreet Coffee found one very interesting point: the Caturra variety was never released in Brazil, yet it had already spread throughout Central America.

In the 1940s, Caturra was introduced to Guatemala. Later it spread from Guatemala to Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama. Today, Caturra has become one of the most important economic coffees in Central America. Until 2008, when the Colombian government encouraged coffee farmers in the country to plant the leaf rust-resistant Castillo variety, Caturra's production was considered to account for almost half of the country's output.

Caturra Variety Characteristics

The Caturra variety has a compact plant size, allowing for denser cultivation. Additionally, the secondary branches of Caturra are closely spaced, enabling it to produce more fruit in the same space, greatly increasing yield per unit area. It is precisely because of the Caturra variety's compact plant size that harvesting is more convenient.

Caturra is also known as "sun coffee" because it doesn't require shade trees and thrives even under direct sunlight. FrontStreet Coffee found through research that Caturra is suitable for cultivation in regions between 700 to 1,700 meters altitude. It has strong environmental adaptability—higher planting altitudes result in better flavor but relatively lower productivity. Like Bourbon, Caturra has the problem of biennial production cycles with alternating high and low yields.

The Taste of Caturra

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, Caturra is widely cultivated in Central and South America, so its presence can be found in coffee beans from many producing regions. On FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, such as Panama's Mariposa, Esmeralda's Diamond Mountain, Colombia's Caturra, Rose Valley, Passion Fruit, Costa Rica's Baha, Monster Estate, Giant Rock Estate Blueberry, Honduras's Sherry, Lychee Orchid, and Guatemala's Flora, the labels on FrontStreet Coffee's packaging all display the word "Caturra."

So, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce to everyone the Passion Fruit Yeast Anaerobic Washed Caturra from Colombia!

FrontStreet Coffee: Colombia · Passion Fruit Enzyme Washed Purple Caturra

Region: Huila, Colombia

Estate: Montblanc Estate

Altitude: 1900m

Variety: Purple Caturra

Processing Method: Passion Fruit Enzyme Anaerobic Washed Processing

Huila Region

This passion fruit enzyme washed purple Caturra from FrontStreet Coffee comes from Colombia's Huila region. In recent years, the Huila Provincial Coffee Committee has maintained close communication with the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers, strengthening the cultivation levels and processing techniques of Huila coffee farmers. Particularly with the development of anaerobic processing technology in recent years, Colombian coffee has moved in new directions.

Montblanc Estate

The estate that produced this passion fruit variety for FrontStreet Coffee is Montblanc Estate, located on the winding mountain roads of Vereda La Tolosa in Pitalito municipality. It is a coffee estate operated by owner Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia, with coffee cultivation tracing back to his grandfather. Montblanc Estate is situated on a hilltop with approximately 18 hectares of land and is equipped with complete processing facilities including wet mills and dryers.

Purple Caturra

Purple Caturra is a variant of Caturra, naturally occurring with low probability from red Caturra. The top of Purple Caturra plants grows bronze-purple young leaves, and the fruits turn deep purple when ripe. Montblanc Estate selected 26 plants with Purple Caturra characteristics from more than 20,000 coffee plants in their estate. In 2012, leaf rust swept through Colombia, but Purple Caturra survived to this day. Purple Caturra has unique flavor and strong leaf rust resistance, and this variety also has high Brix degrees.

Passion Fruit Enzyme Anaerobic Washed Processing

After harvesting coffee cherries, Montblanc Estate measures their Brix degrees and determines appropriate processing methods based on sugar content. Coffee with Brix degrees of 24-27 is used for washed processing. First, the skin and pulp of the coffee fruit are removed, then the coffee fruit is fermented with passion fruit. The high sugar content provides an excellent environment for bacterial growth, cultivating strains that are placed with parchment beans in sealed containers for anaerobic fermentation. Fermentation time is controlled between 28-32 hours, then thoroughly washed with clean water, transferred to solar dryers for several days, and finally moved to cool raised beds to complete the drying process.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: V60#01

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: EK43s#10 (Chinese standard #20 sieve 80% pass rate)

Brewing Method: Three-stage extraction. Use 30g of water for 30-second bloom, then continue pouring with small water flow in circles to 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. Extraction time is 2'00" (timing starts from bloom).

Flavor Description: Has raisin aroma when ground, and white floral notes can be smelled during brewing. Upon tasting, you can feel distinct passion fruit aroma, grape-like acidity, with a honey-like aftertaste.

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