This coffee is available in limited quantities on our greens page as part of the Colombia Varietal Series.
The History
Discovered around 1915-1918 in Brazil, Caturra is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety and became popular across Central and South America. This variety grows small and compact due to a dwarf gene, allowing more plants to be grown closer together and potentially increasing crop yield. While this was desirable, other varieties and cultivars were preferred over Caturra in Brazil because of the plant's shorter life cycle from fruit production and its growing conditions.
Caturra coffee, image courtesy of World Coffee Research
Together with the Timor Hybrid, Caturra is a parent of the Catimor cultivar, which was designed to bolster resistance to coffee leaf rust, a parasitic fungus that can significantly reduce and even wipe out a crop. Caturra is often the benchmark to gauge new cultivars. In 2008, Colombia incentivized the Castillo cultivar with large subsidies on renovation loans if farmers would move away from other varieties.
This staple variety is not going away anytime soon, but as the climate and environment continue to change, cultivars will be developed in response to rising temperatures and unpredictable weather shifts to protect coffee production.
The Producer
Faiber Bolanos owns the 1.5-hectare farm La Esperanza, and manages a 2.5-hectare farm for his mother as well. He has been farming since 1998 and is a member of the small but mighty growers' cooperative called Asocoación Los Naranjos, which he joined in 20
Faiber Bolanos at Genenis Sourcing's cupping lab
The coffee on La Esperanza is picked and combined over the course of two days, and the lot of cherries is depulped the second day. It is then fermented for 24–72 hours, depending on the weather, before being washed clean and dried for 15–30 days in a solar dryer.
Faiber works as a coffee buying liaison for Los Naranjos, which has allowed him to improve his skills as both a coffee roaster and a coffee cupper.
Sample roasting at Genenis Sourcing's cupping lab
Our Experience
I love this variety and think of it like a nice house wine. Caturras tend to lean toward base notes with a tame but complementary acidity. This makes it a great variety to work into a blend, or keep on its own for a crowd.
This lot is anaerobic washed, meaning the coffee was sealed and fermented in a controlled environment with little to no oxygen. This method can take the base flavor of the coffee and ramp up acidity, or encourage darker sugars, which I think this lot does a little bit of both. Threading the needle between the two expressions of fermentation, we experience deep pastry sweetness and lively acidity.
Sources
https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/varieties/caturra
https://library.sweetmarias.com/glossary/caturra/
https://coffeelands.crs.org/2013/01/credit-for-coffee-in-colombia/
Cafe Imports Producer Information
