Detailed Guide to Common Coffee Varieties from Global Growing Regions (Part 2)

As the coffee industry keeps evolving, varieties have been carried across continents, mutated, and crossbred, giving rise to a long list of new cultivars. Many of today's coffee varieties trace their lineage back to two ancestors: Typica and Bourbon.

Caturra

The name "Caturra" comes from Guaraní and means "small." It is a natural mutation of Bourbon: a single-gene change leaves the whole plant compact and shorter than Bourbon, but with closely spaced branches, denser foliage, and tightly clustered fruit.

Caturra also resembles Bourbon in its leaves—the young top leaves are green with wavy edges. The cherries are round and mostly red, though yellow plants appear as well. The beans are uniform and oval. Because the plants are small, they can be planted densely for high yields. The variety suits high-altitude cultivation but is vulnerable to coffee pests and diseases.

In the early 20th century, Caturra was discovered in a botanical garden in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and sent to the São Paulo State Agricultural Research Institute (IAC) in Campinas for study. Although Brazil's own growing conditions didn't suit it, its dense planting and high yields made it attractive, and it was introduced to Guatemala in the 1940s. From there it spread to Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, and other Latin American countries. Today it is one of the most important varieties in Central America and frequently serves as the "benchmark" against which new varieties are tested.

FrontStreet Coffee offers a washed Colombian Huilan coffee as an entry-level selection: mild, soft fruit acidity with nutty, dark chocolate, and caramel flavors, excellent overall balance, and noticeable sweetness.

Catuai

"Catuai" also comes from Guaraní, meaning "very good," and was initially designated "H-2077." It is a man-made hybrid developed by the IAC in Brazil by crossing Mundo Novo—which is itself a natural hybrid of Bourbon and Typica—with Yellow Caturra.

Catuai inherited a compact tree form, dense branching, and high yields, plus green leaf tips, slightly curved leaf edges, and tightly spaced fruit. The cherries are mostly red, and the average-sized oval beans are smaller than Caturra's. It suits high-altitude cultivation and stands up well to adverse weather, though it is susceptible to coffee leaf rust.

After pedigree selection in Brazil, Catuai was widely planted there and later introduced to Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. FrontStreet Coffee offers a natural processed Catuai from the Elida Estate. Brewed, it shows a subtle winy note from the natural process, with peach, raisin, and orange flavors, caramel sweetness, a green-tea-like mouthfeel, and high clarity.

Catimor

Caturra is a natural variant of Bourbon, and Timor is a natural hybrid of Arabica and Robusta. Catimor is the F1 cross between Timor and Caturra—which means it isn't a single variety but a family of related lines that must be characterized through selection.

Catimor takes after both parents: a small overall tree form with many branches and dense fruit nodes, and long, thick beans with slightly upturned ends. The leaf tips are green, and it tolerates lower altitudes. Thanks to its Robusta heritage, it carries some resistance to coffee leaf rust and adapts widely, though it is susceptible to the fungal disease Ojo de Gallo ("chicken eye").

Catimor's creation was driven by coffee leaf rust, which devastated several coffee-producing countries in the 19th century. To fight the disease, Portugal's Coffee Leaf Rust Research Center (CIFC) developed Catimor through the 1950s and distributed it to producing countries for selection and cultivation. Today it is grown in China's Yunnan province, Honduras, El Salvador, and Indonesia—where the local name for Catimor is "Ateng."

FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling comes from the Gayo Mountains in Aceh, North Sumatra. Wet-hulled, it offers flavors of toasted bread, pine, cocoa, and a light herbal touch, with a clean, balanced mouthfeel and caramel sweetness in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this tour of varieties has you curious about Brazil—where Caturra and Catuai were born—FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon (pulped natural, medium roast) is the classic starting point: creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a round, low-acid body that works as pour-over, moka pot, espresso, or French press.

For something more distinctive, try FrontStreet Coffee's Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana. Grown in fertile red volcanic soil, this rare Yellow Bourbon shows a sugarcane sweetness you won't find elsewhere, alongside gentle fruit notes and chocolate—equally at home in a pour-over or an espresso machine.