Catimor Coffee Beans

Catimor is a group of hybrid cultivars developed at Portugal's CIFC research station in 1959, created by crossing the Caturra varietal with the Timor Hybrid, a naturally occurring cross between Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora discovered in East Timor in 1927. The goal was disease resistance: the Timor Hybrid carries Robusta genetics that provide a powerful defence against coffee leaf rust, and breeding that resistance into a compact, high-yielding plant was considered urgent work as rust spread through the Americas from the 1970s onwards. Each producing country developed its own selections from the original crosses: Costa Rica 95, Lempira in Honduras, Catisic in El Salvador, Ateng in Indonesia, giving Catimor more regional expressions than almost any other varietal group.

In the cup, Catimor is contested. Poorly grown at low altitude it can show earthy, rubbery characteristics that betray its Robusta heritage. Grown above 1,000 metres with careful processing, it delivers a full-bodied cup with genuine complexity: spice, dark fruit, nutmeg, and a rounded finish. Producers in Vietnam's Lâm Đồng province and high-altitude farms across Central America are producing Catimor lots that achieve specialty scores and challenge the varietal's reputation. Catimor also has significant genetic importance beyond its own cup quality: it forms the foundation of Colombia's Castillo and various F1 hybrids that combine its disease resistance with improved quality characteristics.

Read more: Our Catimor varietal guide · Caturra · Bourbon · All varietal guides