What's the difference between Caturra and Catuai coffee? Is Caturra an Arabica variety? What are the characteristics of Catuai coffee?

Caturra and Catuai: Two Remarkable Coffee Varieties

Caturra and Catuai are two varieties under the Arabica species. While they may not be as famous as Typica, Bourbon, or Geisha, they have become highly sought-after varieties that most coffee farmers compete to grow.

Whether in large estates like Finca翡翠 and Elida, or in other small producing regions, you can almost always find these two beans. Not to mention others, nearly one-third of the products on FrontStreet Coffee's bean list are composed of these two varieties. This is enough to show that they are both remarkable varieties that should not be underestimated.

So today, FrontStreet Coffee would like to share with everyone what kind of charm Caturra and Catuai possess that makes coffee farmers so enthusiastic about them!

Caturra

Caturra was discovered between 1915 and 1918 in a coffee plantation in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is a genetic mutation of Bourbon. Due to this genetic mutation, the plant size is much smaller than other Bourbon plants. As the size difference with surrounding plants grew larger, this mutant variety was soon discovered by people. Because of its small size, locals named this new species "Caturra." In the Guarani language, Caturra means "small," and it also has the alias "Nanico."

And it is precisely because of its small size that Caturra gained an absolute advantage, making it later become an indispensable coffee giant in Central and South America! Especially in Colombia, nearly half of the country's production comes from Caturra.

The advantage that made Caturra a "giant" might be more "practical" than everyone imagines. Although the flavor is excellent, it's secondary (it has good flavor, but that's not the main reason). The primary reasons are high yield and ease of cultivation! Due to the small plant size, Caturra can achieve higher planting density than other varieties in the same land. Higher density represents higher capacity, and yield naturally increases accordingly.

At the same time, the secondary branches of Caturra are closely spaced, which means that in the same space, Caturra can produce more fruit (Caturra branches are often broken because of this). Higher planting density combined with closer fruiting intervals means Caturra's yield is higher than conventional varieties. This has become the reason why many coffee farmers are willing to cultivate it! Compared to coffee taste, for most coffee farmers, yield is more important.

Now let's talk about Caturra's "ease of cultivation"! As is well known, most Arabica varieties are quite "delicate" - they are not sun-resistant and are more suitable for cultivation in shaded environments. Caturra is different! It can withstand direct sun exposure and can grow robustly and bear abundant fruit even when fully exposed to the sun. Therefore, compared to most other Arabica varieties, Caturra can be planted in more places. And because of this, coffee varieties like Caturra that can withstand direct sunlight have a distinctive name - "Sun Coffee."

Combining these two points, plus Caturra's own excellent flavor, Caturra has thus become a variety that most coffee farmers are happy to cultivate, and is one of the main cultivated varieties in Central American producing regions. Because of this, it is often used as a "benchmark" for testing new varieties. Its only disadvantage is relatively weak disease resistance, making it more susceptible to disease and wilting.

It's worth mentioning that, like Bourbon, Caturra also comes in multiple colors: "red," "yellow," and "purple." More than a decade after Caturra was discovered, the Instituto Agronômico (IAC) in Campinas, São Paulo, began coffee variety hybridization breeding work to obtain higher quality coffee varieties, and Caturra was one of the main experimental subjects in this work. Finally, through years of research and experimentation, an ideal series of varieties was successfully developed. And that is the other protagonist that FrontStreet Coffee wants to share in this article - Catuai.

Catuai

Catuai is a variety hybridized from Caturra and Mundo Novo, released in Brazil in 1972. (Mundo Novo is the result of natural hybridization between two ancient varieties, Bourbon and Typica, first discovered in 1943 in Titimiriros, São Paulo, Brazil.) Initially, this variety was numbered "H-2077," later people named it "Catuai." In the Guarani language, Catuai means "very good." And the facts indeed confirm this.

As a second-generation hybrid, Catuai not only inherited Caturra's excellent characteristics - small size, high yield, and sun resistance - but also has relatively higher disease resistance. Therefore, when Catuai was released in Brazil, it was immediately widely cultivated locally and became one of the main local varieties.

Subsequently, Catuai spread from Brazil to other places, with related cultivation in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and other regions. For example, the natural process beans from FrontStreet Coffee's Elida Estate on our bean list are of the Catuai variety. Similarly, Catuai also has "red" and "yellow" varieties~

Flavor Profiles of Caturra and Catuai

Both varieties have excellent flavor performance, but they have certain requirements for growing altitude. When grown at lower altitudes, their flavor is slightly inferior to other Arabica varieties grown at the same altitude. However, when grown at higher altitudes, their flavor can be perfectly displayed and will be more outstanding than most varieties.

Therefore, the Caturra and Catuai that FrontStreet Coffee cupped and found to have good flavors and selected for our bean list are all grown at relatively high altitudes. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Elida Estate · Catuai, FrontStreet Coffee's daily drink Colombia · Huilan (Caturra), FrontStreet Coffee's Finca翡翠 · Diamond Mountain, and so on. Among these, FrontStreet Coffee particularly likes Diamond Mountain from Finca翡翠, which is a blend of Caturra and Catuai, featuring very soft acidity and the slight fermentation aroma of natural processing.

FrontStreet Coffee: Diamond Mountain, Finca翡翠
Country: Panama
Region: Boquete
Altitude: 1500-1600 meters
Varieties: Caturra, Catuai
Processing: Natural
Brewing flavors: Citrus, honey, cocoa, fermentation aroma

In cupping, FrontStreet Coffee tasted round sweet and sour of citrus and berries from this coffee bean, honey-like texture, some cocoa and fermentation aroma, as well as oolong tea-like aftertaste - very excellent~

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473