What Is Yellow Catucai Coffee? A Brazilian Variety Worth Knowing
Yellow Catucai is a Brazilian coffee variety bred for rust resistance and a heavy crop, with a sweet, nutty cup. Learn what makes it different, and why Fazenda Mumbuca's natural microlot from Variety Coffee is worth trying.
Most coffee drinkers know Brazil as the world's biggest coffee producer, and rarely by the names of its varieties. Yellow Catucai is one worth knowing. Here is what it is, what it tastes like, and where ours comes from.
What is Yellow Catucai coffee?
Catucai is a cross between two Brazilian varieties, Icatu and Catuai, made in 1988 by researchers at what was then the Brazilian Coffee Institute. It comes in a red and a yellow form, named for the colour the cherries ripen to. Yellow Catucai is the yellow-fruited form.
It was bred to be practical: a short tree that resists leaf rust, carries a heavy crop and needs less water than most varieties. That makes it a plant farmers can rely on, and a reliable plant is one a careful farm can afford to pick ripe and process slowly.
Yellow Catucai vs. Yellow Catuai
The two names are one letter apart, both are grown in Brazil, and they are often confused. They are different varieties. Catuai is one of Catucai's parents. If a bag says Catucai, it should mean the Icatu × Catuai cross.
What does Yellow Catucai taste like?
Where varieties like Pink Bourbon or Geisha are prized for bright, floral acidity, Catucai brings weight and sweetness. Expect a round body, low to mellow acidity and flavours in the nutty, chocolatey and cooked-fruit range. Processed as a natural, as with our current microlot, it shows mild cooked berry, peanut butter and pecan, with a full, round sweetness: an easy-going, comforting cup with real depth.
Fazenda Mumbuca, Campo das Vertentes, Brazil
Our Yellow Catucai comes from Fazenda Mumbuca in Santo Antonio do Amparo, run by Marcelo Luiz Moreira Veneroso and his son Henrique. The farm covers 370 hectares, of which 126 are planted in coffee and 101 are kept for biodiversity. It is Rainforest Alliance certified and has shown well at Cup of Excellence.
The coffee grows at 940 to 1,010 metres in Campo das Vertentes, a region in the heart of Minas Gerais with its own geographical indication for coffee. This lot was picked between May and August and dried whole in the cherry on the farm's patio as a natural.
One roast for filter and espresso
We roast this lot as an omni roast, developed to work as both filter and espresso. As a V60 it is sweet and round. As espresso, the peanut butter and pecan come forward, and it takes milk well.
Try it
Our Brazil Fazenda Mumbuca Yellow Catucai is available now in 200 g bags, roasted in small batches based on demand by Nano Kaffee in Berlin. Shop the Yellow Catucai →