Icatu Coffee Beans
Icatu is a Brazilian hybrid developed by the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas during the latter half of the 20th century. It was bred by crossing Coffea canephora (Robusta) with Bourbon, then backcrossed with Arabica over several generations to recover cup quality while retaining the disease resistance inherited from its Robusta lineage. The result is a varietal with strong natural resistance to coffee leaf rust, well-suited to Brazil's growing conditions and lower-altitude farms where disease pressure is higher. The cup character depends heavily on processing and roast, but natural-processed Icatu from Brazil and Central America tends toward warm, rounded profiles: dried fruit, nuts, caramel, and good body. It performs consistently as espresso and in milk-based drinks at medium-dark roast, and has shown well in Brazil's Cup of Excellence competition in recent years, which has brought it more attention in the specialty market. It remains less known outside Brazil than its quality warrants. Read more: Our Icatu varietal guide · Browse all varietal guides
