Coffee Bean Varieties and Flavors - Does the Sun-Kissed Caturra Coffee Bean Have a Strong Taste?

FrontStreet Coffee - Caturra Variety Introduction

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Currently, most Colombian estates adopt a mixed cultivation model of 70% Caturra and 30% Colombia, with the delicious Typica no longer present. The overall coffee variety configuration in Colombia roughly shows Caturra at 50%, Colombia at 30%, and Typica at 20%. Colombia's rich topography, low latitude, and high altitude provide excellent conditions for growing specialty coffee.

Colombia's coffee regions are located between 3 and 8 degrees north latitude, belonging to the low-latitude coffee belt, allowing for two harvests annually. From south to north, ripe coffee can be harvested almost every month. Caturra was introduced from Brazil in the 1960s and currently accounts for 45-50% of Colombia's production, having replaced the earliest Typica.

If you frequently read coffee-related content, you've likely encountered names like Bourbon/Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Typica, etc. These are actually different varieties of Arabica coffee.

Caturra is a natural variation of the Arabica variety Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, but rather more compact. Due to inheriting Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not well-suited for growing there and thus wasn't cultivated on a large scale in Brazil. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South America, with extensive cultivation in countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Because Caturra plants are shorter, they are convenient to harvest. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, they face the problem of biennial production cycles. The flavor is comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans, but more importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability, thriving without shade trees even when directly exposed to intense sunlight, hence commonly known as "Sun Coffee." Meanwhile, Caturra can adapt to high-density cultivation but requires more fertilization, increasing costs. Some academics describe Caturra as the intensive and sun-exposed version of Bourbon, which is indeed a penetrating observation.

The higher the altitude where Caturra is grown, the higher the quality, but correspondingly, the lower the yield. Compared to these botanical characteristics, you're probably more concerned about the taste of Caturra.

Knowledge Point: Arabica coffee is generally believed to originate from the Ethiopian highlands and is widely distributed in tropical regions. Through repeated mutations and breeding, it has derived into numerous varieties.

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