What is the Castillo coffee varietal?

Castillo is a cultivar developed by Cenicafé - Colombia's coffee research centre - and released from 2005 onwards. It's the product of a five-generation backcrossing programme starting from a Caturra × Colombia (a Catimor derivative) cross, designed to produce strong leaf rust resistance while recovering enough cup quality to be commercially viable in specialty markets.

Compact, productive, and rust-resistant, Castillo now represents the majority of Colombia's coffee production. It exists in regional sub-varieties - Castillo El Tambo, Castillo Naranjal, and others - developed to perform well under specific local conditions.

The variety has been genuinely controversial in specialty coffee. Some cuppers find it lacks the complexity of traditional Caturra lots from the same farms. Others point to high-scoring Castillo lots at altitude and argue the difference is in growing conditions, not genetics. The honest position is somewhere in the middle: at high altitude with good management, Castillo can produce excellent coffee. Whether it reaches the ceiling of the best Caturra remains debated.