What Makes the Catuaí Arabica Variety Distinct?
Catuaí is a hybrid arabica variety bred from a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. It keeps Caturra's low stature and fixes Mundo Novo's weaker points, giving the tree firm fruit set that resists wind and heavy rain. Red and yellow fruit types both exist, and red fruit types have statistically taken more competition awards.
The trade-off is flavor. Catuaí tastes flatter than Caturra, Mundo Novo, or arabica coffee in general, with less body, and its productive lifespan is only about ten years. In Central America, especially Costa Rica, growers commonly plant Caturra and Catuaí side by side, which is why blended lots from the two varieties are so widespread.
Catuai is a highly representative hybrid variety in the Arabica coffee family, bred from a cross between Mundo Novo (New World) and Caturra. It inherits Caturra's advantage of a low stature, while compensating for Arabica's defect of fruits easily falling off, with excellent resistance to wind and rain, and firm fruit set. However, its flavor profile is relatively monotonous, lacking in body, and its harvest lifespan is only about ten years—these shortcomings have also limited its development. Catuai comes in red and yellow fruit types, with red fruits statistically more often winning awards. In Central America, Caturra and Catuai are often planted together, with Costa Rica being particularly typical. The renowned Front Street Coffee Guatemala La Flor is a blend of three varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. Front Street Coffee Panama Casa Ruiz Honey Process and Front Street Coffee Brazil Cerrado Nacental Farm are also representative works of Catuai.
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Catuai's green beans have a relatively soft texture, with a sweet taste upon entry, low acidity and astringency, and an overall performance as if it only scored 65 points in every category. This variety has been vigorously promoted by Brazil, but so far it has yet to achieve particularly outstanding results.
Catuai is also a hybrid Arabica variety, the offspring of a cross between Mundo Novo (New World) and Caturra. It possesses strong resistance to natural disasters, especially strong winds and heavy rain. It inherits Caturra's advantage of a low stature, improving upon the shortcomings of Mundo Novo; another advantage is its firm fruit set, which does not easily fall off even when buffeted by strong winds, compensating for Arabica's fragile fruits. However, its overall flavor is more monotonous than Caturra, and also more monotonous than Mundo Novo and lacking in body—this is the greatest regret. In addition, its fruit growth and harvest lifespan is only about ten years; its short lifespan is also a major weakness.
Therefore, under Central American cultivation conditions, coffee made from a mix of Caturra and Catuai is commonly seen, especially in Costa Rica, where the vast majority of coffee produced is a blend of these two. The renowned Front Street Coffee Guatemala La Flor is precisely a coffee bean blend of three varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai.
Catuai also comes in red fruit (Catuai Amerelo) and yellow fruit (Catuai Vermelho) types. The fruits can be either red or yellow, but so far, no yellow-fruited variety has been found to taste better than red-fruited ones. On the contrary, some have found in cupping that certain coffees processed from yellow fruits, while having decent acidity, are less clean in mouthfeel than red fruits. Statistically, red-fruited Catuai wins awards more often.
Since Caturra has high yield and is not prone to pests and diseases, but its taste is not good and its flavor is poor, a new Catuai was derived based on Caturra to improve the shortcomings of poor taste and flavor—though it seems a bit too balanced.
"Front Street Coffee Panama Casa Ruiz Honey Process Beans" and "Front Street Coffee Brazil Cerrado Nacental Farm (U.T.Z)" are both Catuai varieties.
Front Street Coffee Panama Casa Ruiz Honey Process Beans have a rich aroma, with fruity notes detectable, along with a slight maple syrup fragrance. On the palate, the acidity is bright, the aftertaste is refreshing, and the salivation is lasting, leaving one with an endless aftertaste.
The coffee from Front Street Coffee Brazil Cerrado Nacental Farm drinks simply and smoothly, with nutty almond notes and an aftertaste full of sweetness.
Catuai: Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, one could say a second-generation hybrid. It inherits Caturra's advantage of low stature and also compensates for Arabica's fragile fruits. Its fruit set is firm and does not easily fall off when buffeted by strong winds. The greatest regret is that its overall flavor is slightly more monotonous than Caturra.
Catuai also has red and yellow fruit types, with red fruits winning awards more often than yellow ones. Catuai, Caturra, Mundo Novo, and Bourbon are listed together as Brazil's four main coffee varieties.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
