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Icatu Varietal

Its been a while since one of these so its time for another varietal post. This time its the interesting Icatu thats been very difficult to tie down. An interesting and potentially exciting varietal, one to watch.

Varietal: Icatu

Related to: C.arabica and c. canephora

Origin: Brazil

Grows best at: 800ft and higher

Type: Hybred

Prevalent in: Brazil

Predominant Colour: Red and Yellow

Fruit size: Large

Leaf Characteristic’s: No noticeable traits

Plant Characteristic’s: Tall plant

Special Notes:

Only when I started to dig into this varietal did I find how widespread it is. With DNA in Iapar 59 and others, this relatively young varietal came to the forefront in 1985 in Brazil (again), but was officially released in 1993.

There are lots of sub varietals around icatu, most of them just sub variations. These hybrids are the result of repeated backcrossing of arabica with robusta hybrids to arabica cultivars with Mundo Novo and Caturra, and is by far the most complicated of the varietals I’ve looked at so far.

It has a strong resistance to leaf rust, and rootknot neratodes.
A relatively young varietal its true potential as a specialty coffee has yet to be accessed but its pest resistance and it success in brazil’s COE competition (our Brazil Rancho Sao Benedito from the 2008 competition a great example) show positive signs. In the cup too

Typical characteristics: Low acidity, medium to full body, sweet dark chocolate taste with a hint of citric aroma.

Links: Mundo Novo

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