What is the Catimor coffee varietal?

Catimor is a broad family of cultivars derived from a cross between Híbrido de Timor (HdT) and Caturra, first developed in Portugal in the 1950s. Because HdT is a natural Arabica-Robusta hybrid, Catimors carry some Robusta genetics - which gives them strong leaf rust resistance and typically high yields, but can also introduce cup quality issues.

Catimor varieties have been widely adopted across Asia, Central America, and Africa wherever leaf rust poses a serious threat. They're productive, hardy, and manageable. The trade-off in cup quality is real: at lower altitudes or under poor conditions, the Robusta genetic contribution can produce flat, woody, or astringent flavours. At higher altitudes with careful management, some Catimor sub-types produce acceptable specialty results.

The group includes numerous named cultivars: Ateng and Sigarar Utang in Indonesia, Lempira in Honduras, Sarchimor in Portugal and Costa Rica, and many others. When you see Catimor on a specification, it tells you something about disease resistance and agronomic background - it doesn't tell you much about cup quality without the full context of altitude and processing.