Maracaturra is a hybrid of two very different coffee varieties: Maragogipe and Caturra. It combines Maragogipe's famously large beans with the more compact growth of Caturra, producing a coffee that's immediately recognisable in a green-bean sample and capable of making some seriously good cups.
It's most closely associated with Nicaragua, although you'll also find Maracaturra in neighbouring Central American countries. The variety has never been formally stabilised in the way some better-known cultivars have, which goes some way towards explaining why its history and even its name can get a little confusing.
Where did Maracaturra come from?
Maracaturra appears to have originated in Nicaragua from a natural cross between Maragogipe and Caturra.
That's significant because the two parents bring very different characteristics to the plant. Maragogipe is a mutation of Typica famous for its enormous cherries, leaves and beans, while Caturra is a compact Bourbon mutation valued for its shorter stature and relatively high productivity.
Nicaragua's Instituto Nicaragüense de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) began making selections from Maracaturra material in 1976. The work was interrupted by the political upheaval of the following years and was never completed as a conventional breeding programme. Private producers later continued selecting and propagating plants, which is one reason Maracaturra remains somewhat variable today.
World Coffee Research describes the variety as never having been fully stabilised. That doesn't stop it producing excellent coffee, but it does mean that two Maracaturra plantings aren't necessarily identical.
The Maracatu Family Tree
Maracatu
A cross between the giant Maragogype and the compact, productive Caturra. Maracatu combines the best of both parents—larger than average beans with improved yield and disease resistance. The result is a cup with bright acidity, good body, and complex flavour notes.
The parents
Maragogipe
Maragogipe is the source of Maracaturra's most obvious characteristic: size.
It was discovered near the town of Maragogipe in Bahia, Brazil, in the nineteenth century and is a natural mutation of Typica. The trees have large leaves and fruit, and the green beans can be dramatically larger than those of standard Arabica varieties.
The nickname “Elephant Bean” comes from this unusually large bean size. Size alone doesn't tell you much about flavour, though. Maragogipe can produce very good coffee in the right conditions, but its cup quality is generally much more variable than its impressive appearance suggests.
Caturra
Caturra is almost the opposite sort of plant.
It's a natural mutation of Bourbon, first identified in Brazil in the early twentieth century. Its compact growth habit allows farmers to plant trees more densely, and it became particularly important in Central America because of its productivity and manageable size.
WCR describes Caturra as having medium yield potential and average bean size, with high susceptibility to coffee leaf rust. Its contribution to Maracaturra is therefore less about enormous beans and more about plant structure and productivity.
What does Maracaturra look like?
You can usually spot Maracaturra without much trouble once you've seen it.
The trees are relatively compact compared with Maragogipe, but they retain the large leaves and unusually large cherries inherited from that parent. The beans are also considerably larger than average for Arabica.
That large bean size is one of the reasons roasters need to pay attention when working with Maracaturra. Large beans don't necessarily behave in exactly the same way as smaller ones during roasting, so a profile that works well for a standard-sized coffee may need adjusting.
Growing Maracaturra
Maracaturra is primarily associated with high-altitude farms in Central America, particularly Nicaragua. It has also been grown in El Salvador and Guatemala.
The variety's agronomic characteristics are less straightforward than the name “Caturra hybrid” might suggest. It retains some of Caturra's compact growth, but the large fruit and seed characteristics inherited from Maragogipe are still very obvious.
It is also susceptible to coffee leaf rust, so it doesn't offer the sort of disease resistance that some of the newer Central American hybrids were specifically bred to provide.
Yield is generally better than pure Maragogipe but isn't necessarily enough to make Maracaturra an obvious choice for large-scale commercial production. Much of the interest in the variety comes from farms where cup quality and varietal differentiation matter as much as raw productivity.
What does Maracaturra taste like?
There isn't a single Maracaturra cup profile, particularly given the variety's lack of complete genetic stabilisation.
Well-grown examples can have bright acidity, substantial sweetness and a juicy, full mouthfeel. Fruit character is common, with citrus, stone fruit and tropical fruit all appearing in different lots. Floral notes can also come through, especially in washed coffees grown at higher elevations.
Competition coffees have shown just how far the variety can go. A Maracaturra from Finca La Esperanza won the Nicaragua Cup of Excellence in 2008, while another Maracaturra from El Socorro in Guatemala placed third in the 2015 competition. That Guatemala lot was described with citrus and cherry fruit, bright acidity and a creamy texture.
Processing can push the profile in different directions. Washed Maracaturra tends to show more clarity and acidity, while natural and honey processing can bring more fruit and sweetness.
Maracaturra at competition
Maracaturra has a surprisingly strong competition record for a variety that isn't widely planted.
The variety's large beans make it visually distinctive, but that's not what gets it through a Cup of Excellence jury. The coffees that perform well tend to combine the variety's natural fruit character with careful harvesting and processing.
In 2015, a Maracaturra from Finca Himalaya in El Salvador placed fifth in the Cup of Excellence. Producer Mauricio Salaverría was particularly interested in the variety because he saw a way to combine productivity with the kind of quality that could perform at competition level.
That balance is really the appeal of Maracaturra. It isn't a variety that makes sense simply because the beans are enormous. The interesting part is what those genetics can produce when the farm gets everything else right.
Maracaturra and Maracatu: are they the same?
This is where coffee terminology gets messy.
Some coffee sources use Maracatu and Maracaturra interchangeably for a Maragogipe and Caturra hybrid. Others use Maracatu for a separate Maragogipe and Catuaí hybrid and reserve Maracaturra for the Caturra cross.
The distinction is worth keeping in mind when reading variety information from different countries. Names used by farmers, exporters and researchers don't always line up perfectly, and the variety's history hasn't been documented as neatly as that of more formally released cultivars.
Why we find it interesting
Maracaturra doesn't have the tidy story of a modern breeding programme with a single research station, a numbered selection and a formal release date.
Instead, it appears to have emerged from a natural cross, been selected in Nicaragua, lost some of that breeding momentum during a period of political upheaval, and then been carried forward by producers who saw potential in the plant.
The result is a variety that looks unusual in the field, is unmistakable on the green-coffee table and has produced some very good competition coffees.
Sometimes that's enough of a reason to keep looking for it.
Quick varietal facts
Varietal: Maracaturra
Species: Coffea arabica
Parentage: Maragogipe × Caturra
Origin: Nicaragua
Early selection: INTA, from 1976
Type: Hybrid; not fully stabilised
Growth habit: Compact to medium
Fruit colour: Red
Fruit size: Large
Bean size: Very large
Yield: Moderate; generally higher than Maragogipe but variable
Disease resistance: Susceptible to coffee leaf rust
Key growing regions: Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala
Typical cup profile: Bright acidity, pronounced sweetness, citrus, cherry, stone fruit and tropical fruit, with a juicy or creamy mouthfeel depending on farm and processing
Further reading
- World Coffee Research: Pacamara
- Perfect Daily Grind: Maracaturra and hybrid varieties
- Cup of Excellence: Nicaragua
Related varietals: Maragogype – Caturra – Pacamara