Colombian Caturra Coffee Beans - Distinct Flavor with Bright Acidity and Overall Vibrancy

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Colombian Caturra

Personnel from the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia), commonly referred to in the industry as FNC, introduced the two main varieties of Colombian coffee: Caturra and Colombia.

Caturra was introduced from Brazil in the 1960s and currently accounts for 45-50% of Colombia's production, having replaced the earliest Typica variety.

The new variety named "Colombia," sharing the same name as the country, was developed in the 1980s as a hybrid coffee with Caturra and Timor lineage - essentially the notorious Catimor. However, FNC insists that although Colombia is a direct descendant of Catimor, its flavor is far more elegant than typical Catimor. This is because Colombia has undergone multiple generations of "backcrossing" with Arabica, eliminating the musty taste of Robusta beans. Its flavor more closely resembles Arabica while also possessing Robusta's disease resistance and high yield advantages, making it a powerful tool for increasing production in Colombia.

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, being more compact. Due to its Bourbon heritage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growing there and was not cultivated on a large scale in Brazil. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South America, with countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua extensively planting Caturra.

Because Caturra plants are shorter, they are convenient to harvest. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, Caturra also experiences biennial production cycles. Its flavor is comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans, but more importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability - it can thrive without shade trees, growing vigorously under direct sunlight, earning it the nickname "Sun Coffee." Additionally, Caturra can adapt to high-density planting, though this requires more fertilization, increasing costs. Some in academia refer to Caturra as the intensive and sun-exposed version of Bourbon - a truly perceptive description.

For Caturra cultivation, the higher the altitude, the better the quality, but correspondingly, the lower the yield. Compared to these botanical characteristics, you might be more concerned about the taste of Caturra.

Knowledge Point

Ethiopia holds an ancestral position in the coffee world as the birthplace of Arabica beans and is currently Africa's largest Arabica-producing country. The Kaffa Forest in Ethiopia is even known as the "coffee gene bank."

In Brief

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