Variety record
Caturra
One mutated gene, and the reason a hillside of coffee can be picked without a ladder.
Commonly got wrong
Caturra is a MUTATION, not a cross. It is Bourbon with a single gene changed that shortens the internodes, which is why the plant is compact and can be planted densely. The dwarfing gene is the reason so much of Latin America looks the way it does, and it says nothing about the cup.
Caturra is a single-gene dwarf mutation of Bourbon found in Brazil, and it changed the economics of growing coffee more than it changed the taste of it.
What the mutation does
The gene shortens the distance between nodes on the stem. The plant stays compact, fruits closer to the trunk, and can be planted at far higher density and picked without a ladder. Yield per hectare goes up because more plants fit, not because each plant is more productive.
This is worth separating from cup quality, because the two get bundled. Caturra was adopted for a labour and density reason. Whether it cups better or worse than Bourbon is a separate question with a different answer at every altitude.
The dwarfing gene is everywhere downstream
Catuai is Caturra crossed with Mundo Novo. Castillo and the Colombia variety are Caturra crossed into Timor Hybrid lines. A great deal of what is planted across Latin America carries this mutation, which means a great deal of the region is growing the same short plant under different names.
It has no rust resistance
Caturra is fully susceptible to leaf rust, and that is the single fact driving its replacement. Where it survives it is usually because a buyer is paying enough to cover the risk.
Qualifications on the record
- Parentage
- A single-gene dwarf mutation of Bourbon, found in Brazil
- Typical cup
- Bright and citric with a lighter body than its Bourbon parent. Clean rather than complex at most altitudes.
- What “Declared only” means here
- Nobody has tested it. This is the normal state of almost every coffee sold.
Origins where it is recorded
-
Colombia
The origin whose published price is not in the unit, the state, or the currency most people assume - and whose grade names describe a hierarchy that does not exist.
-
Costa Rica
Where the 2026 auction average rose 48% in a year - and where the best-known grade mark measures altitude rather than quality.
-
Guatemala
Eight named regions, an altitude ladder with seven rungs, and a naming system that is a framework rather than an appellation.
-
Boquete, Panama
Where Gesha became the most expensive name in coffee in 2004 - and where the name and the genetics started to come apart.