Is Catimor Coffee Bean Arabica? Characteristics and Flavor Profile of Yunnan Catimor Coffee Variety

We all know that Arabica coffee varieties have excellent aroma and acidity, which is why many coffee bean sellers emphasize their use of Arabica beans. In recent years, the frequently appearing Catimor variety - does it belong to the Arabica species? FrontStreet Coffee will now explain the origins of Catimor.

Arabica

Among the world's three major coffee varieties, Arabica is a small-fruited coffee, accounting for over 70% of the total global cultivation. In terms of caffeine content, Arabica has the lowest caffeine content, between 0.9%-1.2%, which is half that of Robusta (Robusta coffee beans have a caffeine content of 2%-4%). Due to its relatively rich fat and sugar content, Arabica offers delicate aroma and pleasant sweet-sour taste, making it favored by more coffee enthusiasts.

Arabica is suitable for cultivation on high-altitude sloped terrain, generally thriving at elevations between 600-1800 meters. It requires specific microclimate conditions, with an average annual temperature around 20°C, and is distributed near the equator between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Arabica has relatively weak pest and disease resistance, resulting in lower yields. The higher the cultivation altitude, the better the flavor, so Arabica cultivation requires more investment than other varieties, making the coffee price higher as well.

Common Arabica varieties we encounter include Ethiopian heirloom varieties, ancient heirloom varieties like Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Pacas, Catuai, Mundo Novo, Maragogipe (Elephant Bean), and so on.

Catimor

In 1959, the Portuguese created Catimor by hybridizing Brazil's Caturra with Timor Hybrid, cultivating a variety with strong disease resistance. Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica variety Bourbon, discovered by Brazilians in 1937. Inheriting Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Caturra grown at high altitudes has bright acidity and pure aroma. Timor Hybrid is an interspecific natural hybrid between Arabica and Robusta, discovered in the 1940s on Timor Island in Indonesia, possessing strong leaf rust resistance and high yields. Therefore, the descendant Catimor also inherited super strong disease resistance and production capacity.

Between 1970 and 1990, leaf rust disasters affected coffee-producing countries worldwide. With assistance from international organizations, various countries vigorously promoted Catimor cultivation to resist leaf rust and increase production. These highly disease-resistant plants have the ability to withstand coffee leaf rust and were widely planted in Central and South American countries in the 1980s. However, because Timor Hybrid is a natural hybrid product of Arabica and Robusta species, although the latter can grant it disease resistance, the delicate taste of Arabica variety disappears. Although Catimor inherits Robusta's strong disease resistance advantage, it also inherits genes for poor flavor. Additionally, although early Catimor had high yields, it required shade trees to thrive, otherwise it would easily wither.

Yunnan Catimor

In the 1970s and 1980s, due to the impact of leaf rust on coffee cultivation worldwide, international organizations vigorously promoted the cultivation of Catimor varieties to various countries.

In 1988, Nestlé established a joint venture in Yunnan, China, aiming to launch coffee cultivation projects and began experimental coffee cultivation in Pu'er, Yunnan. Starting in 1992, Nestlé established a Coffee Agriculture Department specifically dedicated to researching Yunnan coffee cultivation and improvement, guiding local farmers in cultivation, and introducing the highly disease-resistant Catimor. Additionally, Nestlé promised to purchase the produced coffee at prices equivalent to the US spot market, which greatly promoted the development of Yunnan's coffee industry.

As mentioned above, Catimor is not of pure Arabica lineage, carrying 25% Robusta heritage, which affects its flavor performance. It lacks sufficient aroma, has noticeable bitterness, and can easily develop negative astringency and stimulating musty flavors. When grown at low altitudes, Catimor's cupping performance shows no significant advantages or disadvantages compared to other commercial varieties. When cultivated at altitudes above 1200 meters, due to Catimor's shorter harvest time compared to traditional Arabica varieties, it accumulates fewer nutrients, making its cup profile noticeably inferior to Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai varieties.

To improve the negative flavor issues of Catimor coffee, Yunnan has continuously improved and optimized cultivation management and green coffee bean processing techniques. In recent years, premium batches of Catimor from Yunnan have also performed well in the international coffee market, with aromas of nuts and black tea, and plum-like sweet and sour sensations winning the affection of some coffee professionals. As Yunnan represents China's coffee-growing region, FrontStreet Coffee has also included Yunnan Catimor in its lineup of seven regional daily coffee beans, allowing everyone to experience Catimor's flavor at an affordable price.

FrontStreet Coffee: Yunnan Small Bean Coffee

• Region: Baoshan, China
• Altitude: 1200 meters
• Processing: Washed
• Variety: Catimor
• Flavor: Nuts, melon and fruit aroma, brown sugar, plum acidity

Brewing Flavor

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee uses freshly roasted Yunnan small bean coffee. Since coffee enters an optimal tasting period after 4-7 days of resting following roasting, after this period, the coffee aroma will accelerate its evaporation, and the flavor and taste will be greatly diminished. FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands the importance of coffee freshness, so the shipped coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days. When customers receive them, they happen to be at their optimal flavor, ready for brewing and tasting.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan small bean coffee should have a balanced flavor profile - neither overly acidic nor heavily bitter. Therefore, we use a V60 dripper with medium-fine grind size and water temperature that isn't too high for brewing.

• Dripper: V60
• Water Temperature: 90°C
• Grind Size: 80% passing through standard #20 sieve
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
• Coffee Dose: 15 grams

Using a three-stage extraction method: after grinding the coffee, pour it into the filter paper, start pouring from the center with 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Pay attention to maintaining a small, steady water flow, spiraling from inside to out throughout the process. In the second stage, pour 95g of water, and when the coffee liquid has almost finished dripping, begin the third stage by pouring 100g until all the coffee has filtered through. The total time should be approximately 2 minutes, with about 10 seconds variance.

The small-bean Catimor coffee has dry aromas of nuts and berries. You can taste the sweetness of nuts, herbs, chocolate, and brown sugar, balanced plum-like acidity, with a finish carrying light fruity acidity.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473